Watch as NASA's Ju** spacecraft gets into Jupiter's orbit Monday, or dies trying
 

Watch as NASA's Ju** spacecraft gets into Jupiter's orbit Monday, or dies trying
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PASADENA, Calif. — On July 4, NASA is going to try to put a basketball court-sized spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.

If all goes according to plan, the Ju** spacecraft — which has been hurtling through the solar system for five years since its launch in August 2011 — will become the first probe to orbit Jupiter since the end of NASA’s Galileo mission in 2003.*

And getting into orbit around Jupiter is ** easy feat.

SEE ALSO: We're about to get our closest-ever look at Jupiter


The huge planet’s radiation environment can fry instrumentation on even the most hardened spacecraft, and the pull of the planet’s gravity is so strong that it basically acts as a giant slingshot out through the rest of the solar system. It's also possible that some kind of small bit of dust from Jupiter's rings could hit the spacecraft, possibly damaging it. Read more...


More about Ju** Mission, Jupiter, Ju**, Space, and Sciencehttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/pQd6WXp3Ezg