Missions to Jupiter

Mission Country Launch Date Arrival Date Type Encounter Characteristics

Pioneer 11 USA April 6, 1973 September 1, 1979 Flyby Returned detailed pictures of Jupiter and Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
Voyager 1 USA September 5, 1977 November 13, 1980 Flyby Returned photographs and information on Jupiter's many moons.
Voyager 2 USA August 20, 1977 August 26, 1981 Flyby Showed that Jupiter's Great Red Spot is really a complex storm, and that Io, one of Jupiter's moons, has active volcanism.
Galileo USA & Europe October18, 1989 February 10, 1990 Orbiter/Probe The Galileo Probe successfully descended into Jupiter's atmosphere
on December 7,1995.
Galileo Orbiter successfully entered orbit well above the cloud tops of
Jupiter on December 7, 1995 and is currently observing the Jupiter system.

You might also be interested in:

Cool It! Game

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Voyager

The rare arrangement of planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in the 1980's made it possible for the Voyager spacecrafts to visit them over a 12 year span instead of the normal 30. They used gravity...more

Galileo

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

Discover Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is also one of the brighter objects in the night sky. No one knows for sure who discovered Jupiter, but we know the ancient Greeks named him after...more

Galileo - Still Earning Frequent Flyer Miles!

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

Impact on Jupiter - July 2009

Anthony Wesley is an amateur astronomer in Australia. On the night of July 19, 2009, Wesley noticed a dark spot on Jupiter that hadn't been there before. He had discovered the remains of a huge impact...more

A Look at Jupiter's Magnetosphere

Jupiter's magnetosphere is very special. It is the biggest thing in the entire solar system. Not only is it big enough to hold all of Jupiter's moons, but the sun itself could fit inside. It goes all...more

The Rings of Jupiter

Jupiter has a series of rings circling it! Unlike Saturn's rings, which are clearly visible from Earth even through small telescopes, Jupiter's rings are very difficult to see. So difficult, in fact, that...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA