On July 9, 1979, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter.
It came within 354,000 miles (570,000 kilometers) of the planet's cloud tops. Voyager 2 was one of two space probes launched by NASA in 1977 to study the outer planets. It discovered a few rings around Jupiter. Also, both Voyager 1 and 2 probes spotted volcanoes erupting on the Jupiter's moon, Io. Voyager 2 took longer to reach Jupiter than its sister spacecraft, Voyager 1, but also got to visit Uranus and Neptune. This made it the only spacecraft to visit either of the ice giants.
It came within 354,000 miles (570,000 kilometers) of the planet's cloud tops. Voyager 2 was one of two space probes launched by NASA in 1977 to study the outer planets. It discovered a few rings around Jupiter. Also, both Voyager 1 and 2 probes spotted volcanoes erupting on the Jupiter's moon, Io. Voyager 2 took longer to reach Jupiter than its sister spacecraft, Voyager 1, but also got to visit Uranus and Neptune. This made it the only spacecraft to visit either of the ice giants.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04In 1979, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter.
00:09The spacecraft was one of two Voyager probes NASA launched in 1977 to study the outer planets.
00:14Voyager 2 discovered a few rings around Jupiter, and both Voyager probes spotted volcanoes erupting on Jupiter's moon Io.
00:21While Voyager 2 took longer to reach Jupiter than its sister spacecraft, Voyager 1,
00:25it also got to visit Uranus and Neptune, making it the first spacecraft to have visited those two planets.
00:31And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:34♪