Galileo
The first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet.
Galileo was a NASA probe that studied Jupiter and its moons, and the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. It was launched on 18 October 1989 from the Space Shuttle on STS-34, reached Jupiter on 7 December 1995 after Venus and Earth flybys, and became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet. It also carried an atmospheric entry probe.
It was deliberately crashed into Jupiter on 21 September 2003 to avoid contaminating the moons.
Quick Facts
- Auto
- all
- Mission type
- Jupiter orbiter
- Operator
- NASA
- Distance travelled
- 4,631,778,000 km / 2,878,053,418 mi
- Manufacturer
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
- General Electric
- Hughes Aircraft Company
- Launch mass
- Total: 2,560 kg / 5,644 lb
- Orbiter: 2,220 kg / 4,894 lb
- Probe: 340 kg / 750 lb
- Dry mass
- Orbiter: 1,880 kg / 4,145 lb; Probe: 340 kg / 750 lb
- Payload mass
- Orbiter: 118 kg / 260 lb; Probe: 30 kg / 66.1 lb
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