Asteroid exploring spacecraft passes over Earth
NASA's Lucy spacecraft skimmed the Earth's atmosphere on Sunday, passing a mere 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the surface. The spacecraft is on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids. Seven of the mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit, thought to be the pristine leftovers of planetary formation. By sling-shotting past Earth on the first anniversary of its launch, Lucy gained some of the orbital energy it needs to travel to this never-before-visited population of asteroids. Lucy is named after the 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia nearly a half-century ago. That discovery got its name from the 1967 Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," prompting NASA to send the spacecraft soaring with band members' lyrics and other luminaries' words of wisdom imprinted on a plaque. The spacecraft also carried a disc made of lab-grown diamonds for one of its science instruments.
