Deep Space 1, a NASA probe launched October 1998, made a close encounter of Comet 19P/Borrelly September 22, 2001. The spacecraft's main purpose was a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille, which it completed in July 1999.
The original mission was to visit comet 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura and asteroid 3352 McAuliffe, but its launch was delayed so its targets were changed to Braille and comet 107P/Wilson-Harrington. Due to a malfunction with Deep Space 1's star tracker, the encounter with Wilson-Harrington was cancelled and set to rendezvous with Comet Borrelly.
The comet was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly in December 1904 from Marseilles, France during a routine search for comets. Deep Space 1 discovered its nucleus to be shaped like a bowling pin.
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