PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
NASA's Galileo spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around Jupiter after its six-year trip through the solar system.
Project engineers report the spacecraft's rocket fired on time at 5:20 p.m. PST and stopped after 49 minutes as planned at 6:08 p.m. PST, enabling the spacecraft to enter orbit around the giant planet and begin its two-year mission of scientific studies.
Launched October 18, 1989, Galileo has traveled 3.7 billion kilometers (2.3 billion miles) in a looping path through the solar system to reach Jupiter, which is 934 million kilometers (580 million miles) away from Earth.