Feb 2, 1999: JPL scientists reported yesterday that the Galileo spacecraft executed a close flyby of Europa on Sunday, passing a scant 894 miles above the surface of Jupiter's frozen moon. Early indications are that the manoeuvre was a success and that all scientific data were stored on the spacecraft's tape recorder for later playback. Read more
On August 28, 1993, Galileo Probe flew within 2,400 kilometres of asteroid 243 Ida. The probe discovered that Ida had a small moon, dubbed Dactyl, only 1.4 km in diameter which was the first asteroid moon discovered. Read more
The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, a little more than six years later, via gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth. Read more
20th Anniversary of the Galileo Asteroid Gaspra Flyby in 1991
On October 29, 1991, two months after entering the asteroid belt, Galileo performed the first ever asteroid encounter by passing about 1,600 kilometres from 951 Gaspra at a relative speed of about 8 kilometres per second. Several pictures of Gaspra were taken along with measurements using the NIMS instrument to indicate composition and physical properties. The last (and best) two images were played back to Earth in November 1991 and June 1992. Read more
Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. Named after the astronomer and Renaissance pioneer Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18, 1989 by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission. Read more
Grand Explorations: Galileo - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator
Galileo's end Once its fuel supply was nearly depleted, Galileo was intentionally commanded to crash into Jupiter to eliminate any chance of a future impact with Europa that could contaminate the icy moon. At the completion of its 35th and final circuit around the Jovian system, Galileo impacted the gas giant in darkness just south of the equator on September 21, 2003, at 18:57 GMT, at a speed of approximately 48.26 kilometres per second. Read more