Jun 27 1996
From The Space Library
NASA's Galileo spacecraft completed a flyby of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, passing only 519 miles (835 kilometers) above the moon's surface. NASA had equipped Galileo with 10 scientific instruments to gather data from the expedition. The instruments began making measurements on 23 June, as the probe approached Ganymede. Images revealed an icy surface, with bright, clean ice covering part of the moon and darker, dirty ice covering the rest. This was the first data gathered during a collection mission planned for 1996 and 1997, in which Galileo would pass Ganymede before completing 11 orbits of Jupiter and surveying the planet's other moons. NASA monitored Galileo's progress through its Deep Space Network, using control stations in California, Spain, and Australia. Scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory had built the Galileo spacecraft.
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