Mars Flyby Fueled Psyche Mission: Timelapse Captures 1,000-MPH Boost Toward Metal World
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used a May 15, 2026 Mars flyby to gain a gravity-assisted boost toward asteroid Psyche, approaching Mars within about 2,864 miles and gaining roughly 1,000 mph on its way to a 2029 rendezvous; a new timelapse video stitched from four May images shows Mars’ crescent to cratered disk as Psyche’s gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, magnetometer and multispectral cameras were calibrated for the mission’s upcoming encounter.