An artist's drawing of the Galileo spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of NASA
Galileo - The Sequel
News story originally written on January 2, 1998
Galileo concluded the first part of its mission on December 7, 1997. It spent the last two years studying
Jupiter and its moons.
Galileo just started part II of its mission. This phase of the mission will last another two years. During these two years Galileo is scheduled to fly by Europa eight times, Callisto four times and Io two times. A flyby is exactly what it sounds like. The spacecraft passes near to the planet or moon so that it is close enough to take pictures and make measurements (of things like magnetic fields).
The Galileo spacecraft completed its first flyby of Europa on December 8th. It passed within 124 miles (200 kilometers) of the moon. Europa is a very intriguing moon. Scientists think it might have liquid oceans under its surface (probably not liquid water like our oceans here on Earth!).
You might also be interested in:

The Galileo spacecraft was launched on October 19, 1989. Galileo had two parts: an orbiter and a descent probe that parachuted into Jupiter's atmosphere. Galileo's main mission was to explore Jupiter and
...more
Europa was first discovered by Galileo in 1610, making it one of the Galilean Satellites. It is Jupiter's 4th largest moon, 670,900 km from Jupiter. With a diameter that is about half the distance across
...more
Callisto was first discovered by Galileo in 1610, making it one of the Galilean Satellites. Of the 60 moons it is the 8th closest to Jupiter, with a standoff distance of 1,070,000 km. It is the 2nd largest
...more
The Galileo spacecraft was launched in October 1989. So, Galileo has been in space more than 10 years and it has been orbiting Jupiter for more than five years. Galileo is still going strong! "We're proud
...more
It was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. It seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. Either way, NASA led the way to a great century of discovery. Unfortunately,
...more
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on October 29th at 2:19 p.m. EST. The weather was great as Discovery took 8 1/2 minutes to reach orbit. This was the United States' 123rd
...more
A moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. A special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon
...more