Learn more about the Lucy mission "fly past 52246 Donaldjohanson -NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA’s Goddard ...

NASA's Lucy spacecraft has captured the first-ever view of asteroid Donaldjohanson. It was reported by NASA the spacecraft’s ...

The first was a flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh on Nov. 1, 2023. This Sunday, Lucy was expected to fly past her second target, the asteroid Donaldjohanson.

The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager. This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its April 20 flyby.

Donaldjohanson is not the last asteroid Lucy will fly by, but it’s also not the first. The mission flew by the small asteroid Dinkinesh in November 2023—an itsy-bitsy asteroid at just 0.5 ...

Asteroid Donaldjohanson is named after Donald Johanson, the American paleoanthropologist who uncovered the skeletal remains of Lucy, one of humanity's oldest known ancestors.

The asteroid in question, Donaldjohanson, was visited by the mission on April 20, 2025. It flew approximately 960 kilometers (600 miles) from the space rock, revealing interesting insights into ...

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will carry out a flyby of the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20 at 1:51 p.m. ET, when it will come within an eerily close distance of 596 miles (960 ...

NASA’s Lucy will venture as close as 596 miles (960 kilometers) to this asteroid, an estimated 2 ½ miles (4 kilometers) in length but much shorter in width. Scientists should have a better idea ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will swoop past a small asteroid this weekend as it makes its way to an even bigger prize: the unexplored swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter ...

More information: Simone Marchi et al, A Pre-flyby View on the Origin of Asteroid Donaldjohanson, a Target of the NASA Lucy Mission, The Planetary Science Journal (2025). DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/adb4f4 ...