If you feel the 'by' vs 'to' distinction is pedantic, consider the following thought experiment. A friend of yours invites you to go with them to another friend's house. A bit later, sitting in the passenger seat of their car, you see your friend's house come into view as you turn down their street. What's your reaction as you're sitting there and instead of stopping and parking, your friend continues past the house and starts heading back to your house?
NASA uses to in that context: "The mission [by Mariner 10] was the last visit to Mercury by a robotic probe for more than 30 years." says https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-10/ .
m-hodges•1h ago
> Artemis II will fly a relatively simple trajectory. After launch, it will make two long, high, looping orbits around the Earth, before pointing toward the moon, firing its engine and pulling itself away from the grip of earthly gravity. It will follow the safe profile Kraft long ago rejected, flying around the far side of the moon and coming home without a lunar orbit, to end a 10-day mission. But those 10 days will serve as a critical test for NASA’s giant Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket and the Orion spacecraft, preparatory to lunar landings by Artemis III, IV, V, and beyond.