The Soviet Era Luna 3 was the first spacecraft to utilize gravity to change course to photograph the dark side of the Moon. The NASA Mariner 10 mission used the technique to swing by Venus to target Mercury. The gravity assist or sling shot maneuver has become a standard for navigating the solar system. With our probes reaching further, faster and more accurately than ever before.

Space is vast; yet it is full of collisions; gas and dust electrotatically flock together, gravity takes over coalescing grains into rocks, rocks into boulders then asteroids colliding again and again, striking planets and each other. Stars collide creating monsters of light and energy even galaxies collide over millions of years, space is a rough place to be.