Rosetta's asteroid 2867 Šteins flyby very soon now - September 5

Just in case anyone's forgotten, the flyby will be happening tomorrow:

The Rosetta spacecraft control room is buzzing with anticipation as Rosetta closes in on asteroid 2867 Steins. The fly-by timeline includes a series of critical events, culminating with closest approach - expected at 20:58 CEST, 5 September 2008.

At the time of closest approach, Rosetta is planned to be 800 km from the asteroid, passing by at a speed of 8.6 km/s relative to Steins. Both Rosetta and Steins will be illuminated by the Sun, providing an excellent opportunity for science observations.

Between 40 and 20 minutes before closest approach, Rosetta will be flipped and the spacecraft will switch to a specially designed asteroid fly-by mode, an optimal configuration that supports the intensive observation and tracking activity of the on-board instruments.

And here's the timeline (because observations will continue for some time after the flyby as well of course):

Time	Event
1 September
02:20	Instruments switched on (except OSIRIS which was already on for the navigation campaign)
4 September
07:20-11:20	Slot for possible trajectory correction manoeuvre (36 hours before closest approach)
13:20-18:20	Last opportunity to acquire images for optical navigation campaign
5 September
07:20-10:20	Slot for possible trajectory correction manoeuvre (12 hours before closest approach)
10:20	Navigation cameras switch to tracking mode - initially both used, then use CAM 'A' only (to be decided)
11:00	Uplink fly-by commands for asteroid fly-by mode (AFM) Includes an update to the command profile already on board & the final updated AFM commands (only if 1 CAM at least is tracking)
20:18-20:38	Spacecraft flip over
20:39	Spacecraft switches automatically to asteroid fly-by mode
20:56	Sun illuminates Rosetta from the back and the asteroid fully
20:58	Closest approach, at a planned distance of 800 km from the asteroid
22:27	First post-fly-by acquisition of signal (AOS) - telemetry received via NASA's Goldstone ground station
22:30	Start of science data download via Goldstone
6 September
12:00	Live streaming of Rosetta Steins fly-by press conference from the European Space Operations Centre begins
13:00	Images from fly-by published on ESA web
15:00	End of press conference streaming
16:01	End of reception of first set of science data

Here's the blog of the people at general operations, so keep an eye on that. Here's the information they've given on the asteroid and the flyby:

Size	4.6 km
Orbital Radius	353 million km
Class	E-type asteroid
Rotation Period	approximately 6.05 hours
Shape	irregular but not elongated
Closest approach	5 September 2008, 20:58 CEST
Distance at closest approach	800 km
Relative Velocity at the time of fly-by	8.62 km/s

Can't wait!