What was the mission of the near spacecraft?

The NEAR Shoemaker was a space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA. The Shoemaker was the first space probe of the Discovery program.

The space probe was used to study Eros asteroid for a year. The spacecraft made 230 revolutions around Eros, before landing on 12 February 2001. The research provided new insights into the size, composition, mineralogy, gravity, morphology, internal mass and the magnetic field of Eros. This data was used to gain more insight into asteroids and comets in general.