NASA's Juno Spacecraft Enters Jupiter's Orbit
Thousands Rejoiced as the Five-year Journey of NASA's Juno Spacecraft Ended
After its five-year journey, traveling over 1.8 billion miles (2.85 billion kilometers), NASA's Juno spacecraft mission reached its final destination and entered into Jupiter's orbit.
"Welcome to Jupiter!" flashed into multiple screens at the mission control as the team was held breathless for another historic moment in human history.
People at the mission control hugged, shouted and cheered. Pride and patriotism enveloped the room.
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"You're the best team ever! We just did the hardest thing NASA has ever done," said Scott Bolton, principle investigator of the Juno mission, according to The Guardian.
Different tones sang like an orchestra at the mission control's audio instruments as Juno confirmed its successful orbit.
"Through tones Juno sang to us and it was a song of perfection," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager.
The probe did tricky maneuvers to slow down to 1,212 miles per hour, turning off its engines, allowing it to enter Jupiter's orbit at the exact time.
"Engine burn complete and orbit obtained. I'm ready to unlock all your secrets, #Jupiter. Deal with it," tweeted @NASAJuno, the official Twitter account for the NASA Juno mission.
The Juno Spacecraft Mission was proposed to NASA in February 2004. After a year of consideration, it won the agency's approval around June 2005.
It was launched into space on August 5, 2011 from Cape Canaveral using the most powerful version of United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, and after two years, in October 2013, it probed back into Earth's atmosphere for gravity assist, slingshotting itself into Jupiter.
Juno was named after the wife of Roman deity Jupiter. In Greek and Roman mythology, the mighty god Jupiter surrounded himself with cloud formations to hide his malice. The god was undiscoverable until his wife, Juno, came and tore through the clouds and revealed Jupiter's true nature.
The Juno spacecraft mission will span until 2018. It will circle the gas giant world for 37 times, examine every detail it gets, soar low to the planet's obscured cloud formations for as close as about 2,600 miles and probe its surface to reveal more of its origins, edifice, magnetosphere and atmosphere to reveal to our naked eye Jupiter's true nature.
As NASA brings the world again into another frontier and human milestone, the public can personally be updated about the mission on its official Facebook and Twitter accounts.
