M6+-+6

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 * Category 6 – Voyager/Outer Planets **
 * Voyager 1 & II || JPL & NASA Currrent ||
 * Galileo || JPL Past ||
 * Cassini-Huygens || JPL & NASA Currrent ||
 * New Horizons || NASA Current ||
 * Pioneer || NASA Current ||

JPL PAST Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past_missions.cfm JPL CURRENT Missions http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm NASA CURRENT Missions http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html

Questions: 1. What was the intention of Stardust?

2. On what date did Voyager 2 past closest to Jupiter?

Voyager 1 and 2 were developed for the once every 175 years alignment of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Knowing that the gravity would keep up the speed, they created the voyagers. August 20, 1977 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Voyager 2 was launched. September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched, although it was launched on a shorter trajectory and faster speed. Voyager 1 made it's closest approach to Jupiter March 5, 1979. Voyager 2's closest approach was July 9, 1979. Voyager 1 was knocked off the orbit of Saturn and sent to the orbit of the Sun, while Voyager 2 continued on for the last two planets. Flew past Uranus January 24, 1986. Final flyby, Neptune, August 25, 1989. The Voyagers continue to go beyond the planets and send us information until the predicted year of 2020, On February 17, 1998 Voyager 1 became the most distant man-made object in space.

Ulysses solar polar mission: Ulysses weighed 814 pounds and was launched October 6, 1990. It was created to circumnavigate the Sun and watch over it's North and South pole actions. Ulysses was sent on a cargo-bay on a shuttle sent out to Jupiter, when it was released from the shuttle it circled around Jupiter until Jupiter's orbit pushed it down and away, causing it to join the Sun' orbit.

Cassini- Huygens to Saturn: Launched October 15th, 1997, weighing in at 12,593 pounds, it's intention was to orbit Saturn's largest and most peculiar moon, Titan. The European Space Agency, (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, (ASI), helped NASA make this project a reality. Huygens, (small probes aboard the Cassini) were to be released once reaching it's Moon and watch over it's activity. Scientists have come to believe it is covered by a translucent atmosphere, that of which the Earth had before life started.

Stardust: Launched February 7th, 1999 and weighed 848 pounds. Stardust was part of a ongoing program named Discovery. It was the fourth of the project to leave Earth. For the first time ever, dust of a comet will be brought back to Earth because of Stardust. It was the first U.S. mission entirely dedicated to a comet. It would also be the first to return alien materials past the orbit of the Moon.