NASA's Lucy spacecraft has completed its very first close-up flyby of an asteroid, buzzing past the main belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson.

This flyby was primarily a dress rehearsal to test the spacecraft's autonomous tracking systems and instruments before it reaches its primary targets - the Jupiter Trojan asteroids - later in the decade.

The images beamed back reveal an ancient, cratered chunk of rock floating in the void. It is humanity's first close-up view of this specific celestial object, proving that the navigation and camera tracking systems on Lucy are working perfectly.

NASA's Lucy Mission.