It was discovered in 1992, by astronomers at Palomar Observatory and later named after Louis Braille, the inventor of the writing system for the blind.

Discovered on May 27, 1992, by E. F. Helin and K. J. Lawrence working at the Palomar observatory as part of NASA's Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey, it was given the provisional designation 1992 KD.

[1] Detailed information about Braille comes primarily from the Deep Space 1 probe, which passed within 26 km of the asteroid on July 29, 1999,[14] and from extensive ground based observations done in conjunction with the mission.

[15] By the time Deep Space 1 reached Braille, its ultraviolet spectrometer had failed, but it did return two CCD images of medium resolution and three infrared spectra during the encounter.

[16] The main purpose of the Deep Space 1 mission was technology testing, but the encounter with Braille was of strong scientific value.