flyby
noun
the flight of a spacecraft close enough to a celestial object, as a planet, to gather scientific data.
flybys
-
pluralof flyby.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Aerial flybys revealed somewhere between 700-1,110 structures have been lost since the fires broke out over the weekend, authorities said, with anxious families awaiting news about when they could return.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
The spacecraft will perform 49 close flybys to determine whether environments beneath the surface could support life.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
“Juno had two really close flybys of Io during Juno’s extended mission,” Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, the mission’s principal investigator, said in a statement.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2025
It needed to make nine flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury before it could reach the right speed to be captured by Mercury's gravity.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2025
Even if one of the flybys is missed, the craft’s orbit around the Sun will repeatedly bring it close to Mercury.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 3, 2024
