NASA Spacecraft Juno Enters Jupiter Orbit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP ) -- An American spacecraft has gone where no man has gone before.
The NASA spacecraft Juno reached Jupiter Monday night.
Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin cheered and gave each other high-fives when the solar-powered spacecraft beamed home news that it was circling Jupiter's poles.
The spinning, solar-powered spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter's orbit shortly before midnight after completing a 35-minute engine burn. The high stakes maneuver allowed Juno, roughly the size of a basketball court, to slow itself down significantly and hit a target just a few miles wide, CBS2's Hena Daniels reported.
NASA designed the spacecraft to withstand the intense radiation belts and a ring of debris surrounding the planet. Juno began it's epic journey to explore the king of the planets nearly five years ago and has so far traveled close to 2 billion miles.
Scientists have promised close-up views of the planet when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month mission.
Scientists hope to learn more about the planet's composition and uncover new clues about how our solar system began.
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