flyby
noun
fly·by ˈflī-ˌbī 
plural flybys
1
: a prearranged usually low-altitude flight by one or more airplanes over a public gathering (such as an air show)
2
a
: a flight of a spacecraft past a celestial body (such as Mars) close enough to obtain scientific data
b
: a spacecraft that makes a flyby
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Then, after another lunar flyby, the ship will head back to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of San Diego on October 11. 
William Harwood, CBS News, 30 Aug. 2022 After this initial test flight, Artemis 2 will bring a human crew on a lunar flyby, entering the moon’s orbit and returning in eight to ten days. Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Aug. 2022 With the solar array issue apparently solved, mission operators can turn their focus to an Earth flyby in October when Lucy will pick up a gravity assist—the first of three en route to the main asteroid belt. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 3 Aug. 2022 Separately, the tiny satellites will measure hydrogen at the moon’s south pole and map lunar water deposits, conduct a lunar flyby, and study particles and magnetic fields streaming from the sun. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 28 June 2022 Another cubesat jointly developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory will use a solar sail to travel to a tiny asteroid and do a flyby of the surface. Micah Maidenberg, WSJ, 28 Aug. 2022 If the liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the moon flyby, and Orion’s reentry and splashdown off the coast of San Diego in October go as planned, Artemis 2 will go ahead. Wired, 13 Aug. 2022 The European-Japanese BepiColombo probe conducted a close flyby of the planet in October. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 21 Dec. 2021 Juno will image Io again from a distance during a flyby in December 2022, but is scheduled to get to within just 900 miles/1,500 km of Io in both December 2023 and February 2024. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 6 June 2022 See More
William Harwood, CBS News, 30 Aug. 2022 After this initial test flight, Artemis 2 will bring a human crew on a lunar flyby, entering the moon’s orbit and returning in eight to ten days. Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Aug. 2022 With the solar array issue apparently solved, mission operators can turn their focus to an Earth flyby in October when Lucy will pick up a gravity assist—the first of three en route to the main asteroid belt. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 3 Aug. 2022 Separately, the tiny satellites will measure hydrogen at the moon’s south pole and map lunar water deposits, conduct a lunar flyby, and study particles and magnetic fields streaming from the sun. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 28 June 2022 Another cubesat jointly developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory will use a solar sail to travel to a tiny asteroid and do a flyby of the surface. Micah Maidenberg, WSJ, 28 Aug. 2022 If the liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the moon flyby, and Orion’s reentry and splashdown off the coast of San Diego in October go as planned, Artemis 2 will go ahead. Wired, 13 Aug. 2022 The European-Japanese BepiColombo probe conducted a close flyby of the planet in October. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 21 Dec. 2021 Juno will image Io again from a distance during a flyby in December 2022, but is scheduled to get to within just 900 miles/1,500 km of Io in both December 2023 and February 2024. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 6 June 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1953, in the meaning defined at sense 1