NASA Psyche captures – The Psyche team confirmed that Mars had accelerated the spacecraft by 1,000 mph and shifted its orbital path relative to the Sun by about one degree. (Image credit- NASA) NASA’s Psyche clicked a series of stunning photos of Mars, including a crescent-shaped view, as the spacecraft recently flew past the red planet on its way to a distant asteroid.

Psyche completed the maneuver on May 15, passing within 4,609 km of the surface of Mars in a gravity-assist flyby – commonly known as a slingshot, in which a spacecraft uses the gravity of a planet or satellite to propel it toward a different destination. Among the images it captured was a thin crescent of Mars, made possible because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle and captured sunlight reflected from its surface.