Galileo
NASA's Galileo mission combined a JPL-built Jupiter orbiter with a Hughes-built atmospheric probe. Atlantis and IUS-19 launched the system onto a Venus-Earth-Earth gravity-assist trajectory; Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet, directly sampled Jupiter's atmosphere, and transformed understanding of Jupiter's moons before a controlled 2003 impact.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Galileo Jupiter MissionGalileo Jupiter OrbiterGalileo ProjectGalileo Orbiter and Probe
- Name
- Galileo
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- NASA's Galileo mission combined a JPL-built Jupiter orbiter with a Hughes-built atmospheric probe. Atlantis and IUS-19 launched the system onto a Venus-Earth-Earth gravity-assist trajectory; Galileo became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet, directly sampled Jupiter's atmosphere, and transformed understanding of Jupiter's moons before a controlled 2003 impact.
- End Date
- 2003-09-21
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Successful. Galileo completed 34 Jupiter orbits and 35 major-moon encounters, returned the first direct measurements from an outer planet's atmosphere, made the first close asteroid flybys and discovered asteroid moon Dactyl, observed the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts, and found evidence for subsurface saltwater layers at Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. NASA deliberately destroyed the orbiter in Jupiter's atmosphere to protect Europa.
- Start Date
- 1989-10-18
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/galileo/
- Wikipedia Url
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft)
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- April 26, 2026 at 14:17:31 UTC
- Image
- Download
- Updated Time
- July 29, 2026 at 08:53:03 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- Programs
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles