What a historic moment. What a dramatic triumph for science.
We're referring, of course, to the space milestone that was passed Thursday when the Galileo spacecraft went into orbit around Jupiter after sending a probe into the atmosphere of the giant planet.This final entry was the most difficult ever attempted by any spacecraft. It was achieved despite delays and technical problems that at times threatened to destroy the mission. But with the completion of its six-year voyage, Galileo - named after the Italian astronomer who discovered Jupiter's four largest moons in 1610 - is about to give mankind its first close look at Jupiter.
What an exciting prospect.
Jupiter is fascinating because it is so strange and so vast, the biggest planet in the solar system and larger than all the others combined. With 18 moons, Jupiter is a mini solar system. Because of its size and distance from the sun, Jupiter still contains the same blend of materials it had at the beginning. Studying it can help us understand how planetary systems, including our own Earth, are formed.
Surrounded by powerful magnetic fields and intense radiation, Jupiter is made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. At the center is a small rocky core. Jupiter's atmosphere is hundreds of thousands of miles deep and has all ranges of temperatures, pressures and wind velocities. In contrast, Earth's atmosphere is virtually only skin deep. No wonder that scientists studying Jupiter can be expected to rewrite the astronomy textbooks.
Just getting Galileo to Jupiter is a triumph for NASA and the estimated 10,000 people that have worked on the mission since it was first conceived in the 1970s.
Whatever knowledge is gleaned from this undertaking and regardless of the uses to which that information is put, Galileo stands as a testimony to some of mankind's more redeeming qualities - namely, the ability to work together plus the persistence and determination born of simple curiosity.