Rank 54 documents NEAR Shoemaker — the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission that became the first spacecraft to orbit and soft-land on an asteroid. Launched 17 February 1996 aboard a Delta II, the 487 kg APL-built spacecraft flew past Main Belt asteroid 253 Mathilde in 1997 before entering orbit around near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros in February 2000. For nearly a year NEAR mapped Eros with laser rangefinder, X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers, and multispectral imagers — revealing a consolidated rubble-pile geology on the bilobed body. With fuel depleted, controllers executed a controlled descent on 12 February 2001, touching down on Eros at less than 6 km/h — the first soft landing on an asteroid. The mission was renamed for planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Wallimilist renders the peanut-shaped Eros, golden orbit arc, landed NEAR bus on regolith, and NEAR SHOEMAKER typography column exactly as the master PNG dictates — 2001 asteroid palette, launch date kicker, and curator copy on small-body exploration heritage.