On the first anniversary of its launch, NASA's Lucy spacecraft swings over Earth's atmosphere while its route to the Trojan asteroids.
According to Digital Trends, Lucy cruised around Earth before returning to space to study the solar system's creation.
Lucy Visits Earth's Atmosphere to Say Hello
Sunday saw NASA's Lucy spacecraft lowering 220 miles above the planet's surface, traversing satellites and other junk.
Lucky onlookers in Western Australia who had been skywatching to see Lucy go into the shadow of the Earth could view the exploration satellite.
To provide Lucy with a new route for a two-year orbit that would give it the energy to pass the main asteroid, NASA (per Fox News) announced that this visit was a part of the first gravity assist.
This slingshot maneuver occurs on the same day as Lucy's October 16, 2017, launch, which begins a 12-year journey to Jupiter's asteroids.
Rich Burns, the project manager for Lucy, said in a NASA statement that Lucy was initially supposed to fly 30 miles closer but flew a little higher to lessen the disruption in the solar arrays.
According to CNN World, this minor adjustment is a part of an attempt to prevent potentially disastrous accidents in space.
Digital Trends added that Lucy also passed past the moon after it traveled away from Earth, providing a chance to snap pictures as calibrations and stand-ins for research.
