Nov 27 1999
From The Space Library
NASA's Galileo spacecraft was unable to record its closest encounter with Jupiter's moon Io, as it passed within 186 miles (299 kilometers) of the volcanic moon's surface. Although radiation shut down the craft's instruments, NASA was able to restart the instruments 4 minutes later, permitting Galileo to complete more than half of its planned observations. The craft had encountered a similar problem when it had flown within 380 miles (611 kilometers) of to in October. NASA had added the close flybys of Io, located deep within the Jovian system's radiation belts, to the end of Galileo's two-year extended mission. The spacecraft had launched from Space Shuttle Atlantis on 18 October 1989, had begun orbiting Jupiter in December 1995, and had completed its primary mission in December 1997, thereafter, continuing an extended mission focused on Jupiter's moon Europa, with flybys of the planet's moons Callisto and Io, as well.
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