Deep Space 1 launched 1998

Deep Space 1, launched October 24, 1998, encountered asteroid 9969 Braille and comet 19P/Borrelly.  It was intended to fly by Comet 79P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura and asteroid 3352 McAuliffe, but a delayed launch and a brief engine failure forced NASA to change Deep Space 1's objectives.

It encountered Comet 9969 Braille on July 29, 1999 and flew by Comet 19P/Borrelly on September 22, 2001.

NASA shut its engines down in December 2001.  Attempts to resume contact in March 2002 were unsuccessful.  Deep Space 1 remains in a heliocentric orbit.

Deep Space 1 encounters Comet 19P/Borrelly 2001

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.