Galileo

Author(s): toutatis FarGetaNik DaveBowman2001

Release date:

Last updated:

Galileo was a NASA orbiter/atmospheric probe that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as the asteroids 951 Gaspra and 243 Ida. It was delivered into Earth orbit on 1989-Oct-18 by Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-34). Galileo arrived at Jupiter on 1995-Dec-7, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet. The mission lasted until 2003-Sept-21

NOTES:

• Requires the Space Shuttle addon in order for this addon to fully work.
• To see the Galileo Probe descending to Jupiter's atmosphere in action, change your time settings to 1995-Dec-7 between 22:00 and 23:04 UTC

The orbiter (left) and atmospheric probe (right) components of the Galileo mission before launch

Launch and deployment of Galileo from STS-34 (Atlantis), 1989-Oct-18

The objects visited by Galileo prior to its arrival to Jupiter (not to scale), 1990-1995

Impact of a large chunk of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter, July 1994. Seen by Galileo when it was 1.6 AU away from Jupiter

A mosaic of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. All were imaged and studied by Galileo

Animation of the Galileo Probe deploying its parachutes, 1995-Dec-7

Open in Celestia (Recommended) or Download

How to install add-ons? Find out here.