In February of 2000 (on, appropriately enough, Valentine's Day), the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft went into orbit around the asteroid Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to accomplish such a feat. It spent a year taking pictures and observing Eros with various instruments, then, despite the fact that it was never actually designed to do so, it landed successfully on the surface and transmitted data from there for another two weeks.

This book covers the mission's development and execution (including a near-disastrous problem which put the probe significantly off course and resulted in the rendezvous being delayed for over a year), as well as discussing in detail what its observations revealed about Eros' geography, composition, and possible history.

Each chapter is written by a different person (or two) involved with the mission, and the individual styles range from dry and technical to lucid and lively. You don't need to be a planetary geologist or an aerospace engineer to understand any of it, but at least a little familiarity with planetary exploration is likely to be helpful, as it does use a bit of specialized terminology and isn't always consistent about explaining it. This is also definitely a book for people with a real interest in the subject; even though it's only 108 pages (including a lot of pictures), it provides way more information about this one lumpy space rock than most people are ever going to want. But if you do have a genuine interest in the exploration of the solar system in general, and asteroids in particular, it's kind of nice to take an in-depth look at one of the many wonderful (and, frankly, unappreciated) unmanned space missions of the last few decades. ( )

The book is a collection of nine research papers written by the NEAR Shoemaker’s scientists themselves. The book is somewhat technical but not overly so, and is written for an adventurous reader that likes some of the science thrown in. I found it to be a fascinating story and I appreciate the authors attempt to make me feel like I was along for the ride. Good job, I look forward to your next mission! ( )