Giotto

Country: European Space Agency
Mission: Comet Halley Flyby
Launched: July 2, 1985
Launch Vehicle: Ariane 1
Spacecraft Mass: 960kg at launch, 573.7 kg at flyby
Arrival:

Comet Halley Flyby - March 13, 1986

Earth Flyby - July 2, 1990

Comet Grigg-Skjellerup Flyby - July 10, 1992 Payload:

Halley Multicolor Camera

Neutral Mass Spectrometer

Ion Mass Spectrometer

Dust Mass Spectrometer

Dust Impact Detector System

Plasma Analysis 1

Plasma Analysis 2

Energetic Particle Analyzer

Magnetometer

Optical Probe Experiment End of Mission: ??
Notes: First close comet encounter, first European deep space mission

Giotto was launched by an Ariane-1 by ESA on July 2 1985, and approached within 540 km +/- 40 km of the nucleus of comet Halley on March 13, 1986. The spacecraft carried 10 instruments including a multicolor camera, and returned data until shortly before closest approach, when the downlink was temporarily lost. Giotto was severely damaged by high-speed dust encounters during the flyby and was placed into hibernation shortly afterwards.

In April, 1990, Giotto was reactivated. Three of the instruments proved fully operational, four partially damaged but usable, and the remainder, including the camera, were unusable. On July 2, 1990, Giotto made a close encounter with Earth and was retargeted to a successful flyby of comet Grigg-Skjellerup on July 10, 1992.

After the 1992 comet encounter, Giotto was placed back in hibernation. The spacecraft has about 15 kg of propellant left, which is just enough to maneuver the orbit for one last Earth flyby in July 1999.