Jupiter (A 20th Century Future)

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth of that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets. The planet was known by astronomers of ancient times, and was associated with the mythology and religious beliefs of many cultures. The Romans named the planet after the Roman god Jupiter. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.94, bright enough to cast shadows, and making it on average the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (Mars can briefly match Jupiter's brightness at certain points in its orbit.)

Exploration
The first spacecraft to visit Jupiter was Pioneer 10 in 1973, followed a few months later by Pioneer 11. Aside from taking the first close-up pictures of the planet, the probes discovered its magnetosphere and its largely fluid interior. These missions

The Voyager 1, Voyager 2 Voyager 3 and Voyager 4 probes visited the planet in 1979, and studied its moons and the ring system, discovering the volcanic activity of Io and the presence of water ice on the surface of Europa. These missions launched in 1977 from the Space Shuttle and two Chemical Space Tug stages (one of which was discarded while one was reused). They were among the earliest probes to depart from the 12-Person Space Station-III ("Space Base").

In 1980 the Galileo probe (officially the "Jupiter Orbiter Mission") became the first spacecraft to enter Orbit around the Gas Giant to study it and it's moons. It also deployed an Atmospheric Probe into Jupiter's Atmosphere.

In 1983 two Saturn Orbiters flew past Jupiter studying the planet as they recieved their Gravity slingshot, neccesary to reach Saturn. Significant information was gathered about Jupiter and it's Moons from the advanced imaging hardware.

In July 1985 Ulysses and Telemachus flew over Jupiter's pole's in order to gain a gravity assist to depart the ecliptic plane and study the Sun. Like with the previous flybys Galileo and the two flyby craft cooperated and coordinated their efforts during the encounter.