The topic I chose to research is the Galileo spacecraft. I wanted to research this topic because I knew nothing about it, but I found it interesting when I heard about it on the local news. When I first heard about this Galileo spacecraft, I decide to do some research on what Galileo discover and how and why did the mission end. From my understanding, Galileo spacecraft orbit into space to discover things about Jupiter. Galileo first orbit into space back in 1989 from the Atlantis Shuttle and ending on September 21, 2003 after being in orbit for 14 years.
My Search.
The Associated Press calls the article "Galileo Makes Suicide Plunge Into Jupiter", dated September 21, 2003 on Clickondetroit.com. The article basically tells how Galileo journey end. .
Galileo end it's 14 year mission of Jupiter with a suicide plunge into Jupiter. The spacecraft enter the atmosphere of Jupiter on September 21, 2003 just a little before noon. Traveling at 108,000 mph, Galileo was destroyed by friction and heat from the fall into the clouds. The article was interesting because it describe exactly how and when Galileo took its plunge. Although the article was interesting, it was not what I was expecting. It was very short and did not go into detail about what lead up to the plunge into Jupiter. The article answers my question on how it end, but not why it ended.
The next article title "The Journey to Jupiter" dated October 1, 2001 from the jpl.nasa.com website is about the beginning of Galileo and gives us some facts about the spacecraft.
Galileo spacecraft orbited into space October 18, 1989 from space shuttle Atlantis. Galileo mission is to study Jupiter and Jupiter moons in greater depth then any other spacecraft. When the shuttle was released, it took Galileo six years to reach Jupiter. Galileo arrived at Jupiter 35 times in its 14-year mission. It passed by Earth 2 times and witnesses the comet Shoemaker-Levy crash into Jupiter.