Hera spacecraft captured rare images of Deimos, one of Mars’ two moons, from 621 miles away while en route to the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos. Like our moon, Deimos is tidally locked to Mars, meaning the same side always faces the planet—the only side visible to rovers on the Martian surface.

While the car-sized spacecraft flew around the Mars system, flight controllers on Earth temporarily lost communication with Hera because the signal was blocked. Though the blackout was planned for the maneuver, Ian Carnelli, the European Space Agency's Hera mission manager, said it was deeply emotional.

The Red Planet and its tiny moon Deimos were recorded at a very near distance as the asteroid-chasing spacecraft completed a flyby on Wednesday.