<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" id="mwAUM" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="NASA">NASA</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Program" id="mwAUQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Discovery Program">Discovery Program</a> begins as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEAR_Shoemaker" id="mwAUU" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="NEAR Shoemaker">NEAR Shoemaker</a> spacecraft lifts off on the first mission ever to orbit and land on an asteroid, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros" id="mwAUY" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="433 Eros">433 Eros</a>.