1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
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Launched in 1989 aboard space shuttle Atlantis, Galileo explored Jupiter and its moons. Upon arrival at Jupiter in December 1995, the Galileo spacecraft delivered a probe that descended into the giant planet’s atmosphere. The orbiter completed many flybys of Jupiter’s major moons, reaping a variety of science discoveries. The spacecraft launched Oct. 18, 1989, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis. Galileo was then propelled onto its interplanetary flight path, traveling past Venus on Feb. 10, 1990, and then twice past Earth: Once on Dec. 8, 1990, and again on Dec. 8, 1992. While en route to Jupiter, Galileo flew close to two asteroids, the first such visits by any spacecraft. It encountered the asteroid Gaspra on Oct. 29, 1991, and the asteroid Ida on Aug. 28, 1993. During the latter part of its journey, Galileo was used to observe the collisions of fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July 1994. The mission ended on Sept. 21, 2003, when the spacecraft plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere.
(NASA)
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