#orbiter probe

"Eight days after its encounter with the Earth, the Galileo spacecraft was able to look back and capture this remarkable view of the moon in orbit about the Earth, taken from a distance of about 6.2 million kilometers, or 3.9 million miles, on December 16."

Date: December 16, 1992

Date: September 11, 1989

NASA ID: S89-44173

The Jupiter Orbiter Probe Galileo being deployed from the bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-34 mission. The five-member crew deployed the Jupiter-bound satellite within six hours of achieving Earth orbit.

The inertial upper stage (IUS) attached to the bottom side of the probe would propel the spacecraft out of low earth orbit and onto a trajectory to Jupiter at 9,000 mph (14,000 km/h). It received gravitational assists from Venus and Earth before reaching the gas giant on December 7, 1995. Along the way, it flew by the asteroids Gaspra and Ida, becoming the first probe to observe and imagine an asteroid.

Video from photos STS034-71-00R to STS034-71-0AX.

Date: October 18, 1989

"In this artist's rendition, the Galileo spacecraft is being boosted into its inter-planetary trajectory by the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) rocket. The Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is scheduled to take Galileo and the IUS from Earth's surface into space, is depicted against the curve of Earth. Galileo will be placed on a trajectory to Venus, from which it will return to Earth at higher velocity and then gain still more energy in two gravity-assist passes, until it has enough velocity to reach Jupiter. Passing Venus, it will take scientific data using instruments designed for observing Jupiter; later, it will make measurements at Earth and the moon, crossing above the moon's north pole in the second pass. Between the two Earth passes, it will edge into the asteroid belt, beyond Mars' orbit; there, the first close-up observation of an asteroid is planned. Crossing the belt later, another asteroid flyby is possible."

Date: April 1989

"Artist concept shows Galileo spacecraft while still approaching Jupiter having a satellite encounter. Galileo is flying about 600 miles above Io's volcano-torn surface, twenty times closer than the closest flyby altitude of Voyager in 1979."

Date: August 25, 1989

"STS-34 Galileo processing at KSC's SAEF-2 planetary spacecraft facility

At the Kennedy Space Center's (KSC's) Spacecraft and Assembly Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF-2), the planetary spacecraft checkout facility, clean-suited technicians work on the Galileo spacecraft prior to moving it to the Vehicle Processing Facility (VPF) for mating with the inertial upper stage (IUS). Galileo is scheduled for launch aboard Atlantis, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 104, on Space Shuttle Mission STS-34 in October 1989. It will be sent to the planet Jupiter, a journey which will taken more than six years to complete. In December 1995 as the two and one half ton spacecraft orbits Jupiter with its ten scientific instruments, a probe will be released to parachute into the Jovian atmosphere. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Galileo project."

Date: July 21, 1989