Present:

Galileo    The Galileo spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since December, 1995. En route to the planet, the craft encountered asteroids and a comet.

Launch Date:  October 18, 1989

Proposed Missions:

Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter    This proposed mission would orbit three planet-sized moons of Jupiter -- Callisto, Ganymede and Europa -- to make extensive investigations of their makeup, their history and their potential for sustaining life.

Proposed Launch:  No earlier than 2011

Past Encounters:

Voyager Project    The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2 flew by and observed Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Both craft are now heading out of the solar system. In 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in space.	Voyager 1 Launch: Voyager 2 Launch:  September 5, 1977  Aug. 20, 1977   Voyager 1 Flyby: Voyager 2 Flyby:  March 5, 1979  July 9, 1979
Ulysses    A joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency, the Ulysses spacecraft was carried into Earth orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Discover and then it was propelled toward Jupiter. The giant planet's gravity helped direct the craft's flight path into a final orbit around the Sun, where it is studying the Sun's north and south poles.	Launch Date:  October 6, 1990
Jupiter Flyby    The Galileo spacecraft, orbiting Jupiter since 1995, and the Cassini spacecraft, passing Jupiter en route to Saturn, "double-teamed" Jupiter in December 2000. It is unusual in the history of robotic exploration to have two spacecraft--on separate missions--observing the same planet at once.	Millennium Flyby:  December 30, 2000