NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, launched in 2023 and headed to a distant metallic asteroid, completed a close flyby of Mars to adjust its trajectory and gain speed.

The spacecraft used Mars’ gravity as a slingshot, boosting its velocity and helping it stay on course for its 2029 arrival at Asteroid 16 Psyche.

During the pass, it came within about 2,864 miles of the planet’s surface while its instruments and cameras remained active.

The flyby provided both a propulsion boost and a successful test of the spacecraft’s systems on its long 2.2-billion-mile journey, CNN has reported.

The mission aims to study the rare metal-rich asteroid, which may be the exposed core of an early planetary building block.