December 8, 1995
Web posted at: 1:20 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Miles O'Brien and news service reports
PASADENA, California (CNN) -- Six years and several technical glitches later, the 750-pound Galileo space probe parachuted into Jupiter's gaseous atmosphere at record speed Thursday. About 2.3 billion miles away, a cheer went up at the project's NASA control room. Not only had the probe endured the harsh ammonia clouds of the solar system's largest planet, but its radio had begun relaying precious data to the mother ship several thousand miles overhead. (44K QuickTime movie)
"It should be the most important 75-minute weather report we'll ever get," said Galileo Project scientist Torrance Johnson who has been with the project since it began in 1977. "The probe is now recording the most information we've ever gotten from the solar system."
For Galileo project manager William O'Neil, things were "happening too fast to get nervous." The probe plunged toward Jupiter at 106,000 mph, the speediest entry of any spacecraft into an atmosphere.
About two hours later, at 8:19 p.m. Thursday, there was more rejoicing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory when a crucial rocket ignition went off without a hitch, placing the Galileo spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter and bringing it very close to three of the planet's largest moons.
When Galileo fired its engines for orbit, it ended its 75-minute contact with the probe, which would soon be destroyed by Jupiter's awesome heat and pressure. Scientists expect to receive the first 43 minutes of data from the probe between Sunday and Wednesday, and see the first images from the orbiter's camera by summer.
Johnson called the event a "major step closer to the beginning of time." Jupiter contains the same gases as the sun and has undergone few atmospheric changes compared to other planets. Scientists hope data from the probe will help them to better understand the solar system and how it evolved. (132K AIFF sound or 132K WAV sound)
The $1.3 billion Galileo mission may be one of the last of its kind. NASA's future plans call for smaller, cheaper missions that will lower the stakes should something go wrong.
Galileo had more than its share of problems. The mission was approved by Congress in 1977. But the launch was delayed until 1989 after the 1986 Challenger disaster. Since Galileo was designed for launch from a shuttle, it had to wait until the shuttle program got going again.
Then in 1991, Galileo's main antenna failed to open properly. Scientists reprogrammed computers and used a low-power antenna to send data home. Apart from the technical problems, Galileo was also caught in the worst inter-planetary storm ever recorded.
But on the day it really mattered, it came through for NASA. "It's emotionally exciting even though intellectually, it's what you expected," said Galileo probe manager Marcie Smith.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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