Galileo: the little orbiter that could

17 Jun 2002

Galileo's engine fired exactly as planned last night, successfully placing the plucky little spacecraft into its planned orbit around the solar system's largest planet. The atmospheric probe returned about 75 minutes of data from the violent Jovian atmosphere before it was melted by the extreme heat.

The 750 pound probe plunged into the atmosphere of the solar system's largest planet, its parachute deployed and its radio turned on, sending data from half a dozen scientific instruments to the mother ship, 133,000 miles above - not bad for a spacecraft which has had more than its share of misfortune.
Complete mission profile at the URL below: