Galileo (spacecraft)
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Galileo was an American robotic space probe that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an orbiter and an entry probe. It was delivered into Earth orbit on October 18, 1989, by Space Shuttle Atlantis, during STS-34. Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet.
Artist's concept of Galileo at Io with Jupiter in the background. In reality, the high-gain foldable antenna failed to deploy in flight.
Diagram of the atmospheric entry probe's instruments and subsystems
In the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF), Galileo is prepared for mating with the Inertial Upper Stage booster.
Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-34, carrying Galileo into Earth orbit
Uncrewed spacecraft
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Uncrewed spacecraft or robotic spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input, such as remote control, or remote guidance. They may also be autonomous, in which they have a pre-programmed list of operations that will be executed unless otherwise instructed. A robotic spacecraft for scientific measurements is often called a space probe or space observatory.
A replica of Sputnik 1 at the U.S. National Air and Space Museum
A replica of Explorer 1
An illustration's of NASA's planned Orion spacecraft approaching a robotic asteroid capture vehicle
A collage of automated cargo spacecraft used in the past or present to resupply the International Space Station