On this day in space! Sept. 21, 2003: NASA's Galileo spacecraft at Jupiter ends its mission with a fiery death dive into the gas giant
NASA's Galileo spacecraft concluded its 14-year mission in 2003 by intentionally diving into Jupiter's atmosphere. The mission provided groundbreaking data on Jupiter and its moons, including evidence of subsurface saltwater oceans.
Why it matters
The mission significantly advanced our understanding of the solar system and established protocols for planetary protection to prevent biological contamination of potentially habitable moons.
Galileo was the first mission to orbit Jupiter, and the first to die there, too.
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Copy link Reddit Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On Sept. 21, 2003, NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter and its moons came to an end.
After 14 years of exploration, the Galileo spacecraft intentionally fell into Jupiter and disintegrated in the planet's dense atmosphere. Galileo launched in 1989 from the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis and arrived at Jupiter in 1995.
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