Several space observatories did the same, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the ROSAT X-ray observing satellite, and significantly the Galileo spacecraft, then on its way to a rendezvous with Jupiter scheduled for 1995.

A sequence of Galileo spacecraft | Galileo images, taken several seconds apart, showing the appearance of the fireball of fragment W on the dark side of Jupiter

* 1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.

Composite image of the Moon as taken by the Galileo probe | Galileo spacecraft on 7 December 1992.

Galileo was an unmanned NASA spacecraft which studied the planet Jupiter and its moons.

Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, via gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter.

Once Galileo < nowiki >'</ nowiki > s prime mission was concluded, an extended mission followed, starting on December 7, 1997 ; the spacecraft made a number of daring close flybys of Jupiter's moons Europa and Io.

NASA engineers were able to recover the damaged tape recorder electronics, and Galileo continued to return scientific data until it was deorbited in 2003, performing one last scientific experiment — a measurement of the moon Amalthea's mass as the spacecraft swung by it.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the Galileo spacecraft and managed the Galileo mission for NASA.

One section of the spacecraft rotated at 3 rpm, keeping Galileo stable and holding six instruments that gathered data from many different directions, including the fields and particles instruments.

RTGs had been used for years in planetary exploration without mishap: the Lincoln Experimental Satellites 8 / 9, launched by the U. S. Department of Defense, had 7 % more plutonium on board than Galileo, and the two Voyager spacecraft each carried 80 % as much plutonium as Galileo did.

Galileo was one of the first spacecraft to be equipped with a CCD camera.

The boom was used to remove the MAG from the immediate vicinity of Galileo to minimize magnetic effects from the spacecraft.

* 1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.

Other Mariner-based spacecraft, launched since Voyager, included the Magellan probe to Venus, and the Galileo probe to Jupiter.

* 1991 – The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

* 2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

A Galileo spacecraft | Galileo image of Jupiter's main ring.

** The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

After releasing its atmospheric probe on 13 July 1995, the Galileo orbiter became the first man-made satellite of Jupiter at 00: 27 UT on 8 December 1995 when it fired its main engine to enter a 198-day parking orbit.

Space probes have been placed into orbit around all the five planets known to the ancients: first Mars ( Mariner 9, 1971 ), then Venus ( Venera 9, 1975 ; but landings on Venus and atmospheric probes were performed even earlier ), Jupiter ( Galileo, 1995 ), Saturn ( Cassini / Huygens, 2004 ), and most recently Mercury ( MESSENGER, March 2011 ), and have returned data about these bodies and their natural satellites.

* Galileo – 18 October 1989 – Venus flyby, first Asteroid flyby, first Asteroid moon discovery, first Jupiter orbiter / atmospheric probe

The company was known for producing, among other products, the Hughes H-4 Hercules " Spruce Goose " aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the Galileo spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.

STS-34 Atlantis ( October 18 to October 23, 1989 ) was a 5-day mission during which the deployed the Galileo spacecraft, on its journey to explore Jupiter, operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument ( SSBUV ) to map atmospheric ozone and performed numerous secondary experiments involving radiation measurements, polymer morphology, lightning research, microgravity effects on plants and a student experiment on ice crystal growth in space.

During the mission the crew successfully deployed the Galileo spacecraft, starting its journey to explore Jupiter, operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument ( SSBUV ) to map atmospheric ozone, and performed numerous secondary experiments involving radiation measurements, polymer morphology, lightning research, microgravity effects on plants, and a student experiment on ice crystal growth in space.

During the mission, the crew deployed the Galileo probe to explore Jupiter, operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument ( SSBUV ) to map atmospheric ozone, conducted several medical experiments, and numerous scientific experiments.

During the mission crew members successfully deployed the Galileo spacecraft on its journey to explore Jupiter, operated the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument ( SSBUV ) to map atmospheric ozone, and performed numerous secondary experiments involving radiation measurements, polymer morphology, lightning research, microgravity effects on plants, and a student experiment on ice crystal growth in space.

It has also been used for the airbags for the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover missions, the Galileo atmospheric probe, the Cassini-Huygens Titan probe, as an external covering on the AERCam Sprint, and is planned to be incorporated into NASA's upcoming Crew Exploration Vehicle.

Similar to the Galileo probe that descended into Jupiter's atmosphere, the descend of a probe into the atmosphere of Neptune would take about 30 minutes to an hour until the planet's atmospheric pressure would crush and destroy it – the data transmitted during the descend would allow a detailed analysis of Neptune's atmosphere.

Most of the research effort to date has centered on Earth atmosphere entry configurations ( Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle ), planetary entry designs ( Viking, Pioneer Venus, Galileo and MSL ), and aerobraking ( AFE ) configurations.

* The Galileo Project entry on which this biography is partly based.

* Galileo Project entry

* Galileo Project entry.

He painted and filmed in 35 mm an animation of the Galileo probe entry into Jupiter for NASA Ames.

* Galileo project entry

* Galileo project entry

* Galileo probe

* 2003 – Galileo mission is terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.

* The Galileo probe orbits Jupiter, studying the planet and its moons extensively.

* August 13 – Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.

** Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.

* Galileo – first Jupiter orbiter + descent probe

Galileo probe | Galileo images showing Amalthea's irregular shape

The previous record had been set with a one-way detection of laser light from Earth, by the Galileo probe, as two ground-based lasers were seen from 6 million km by the out-bound probe, in 1992.

Its initial mission was to be the Galileo scientific probe to Jupiter.

Most dramatically, the Galileo space probe was deliberately destroyed at the end of its mission by crashing it into Jupiter, to avoid the possibility of contaminating the Jovian moon Europa with bacteria from Earth.

Galileo ( spacecraft ) | Galileo space probe, prior to departure from Earth orbit in 1989

* Galileo probe — US Jupiter orbiter and atmosphere probe ( ended 2003 )