MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Jane Platt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 1999

FREE, PUBLIC EVENTS MARK JUPITER EXPLORATION MILESTONES

       Two decades of fascinating discoveries about Jupiter by NASA spacecraft will be highlighted in a pair of free, public panel discussions on Thursday, September 16, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's von Karman Auditorium, and Friday, September 17 at the Pasadena City College Forum.

       The events mark the 20th anniversary of the Voyager flybys of Jupiter and the 10th anniversary of Galileo's launch. Both presentations start at 7 p.m., with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

       The panel discussions are entitled "Twenty Years of Discovering Jupiter: Voyager and Galileo Celebrate Significant Anniversaries." Moderator David Seidel, a JPL science educator, will lead a panel including Dr. Ed Stone, JPL director and Voyager project scientist; Galileo Project Manager Jim Erickson, who also worked on Voyager; former Galileo Project Manager William O'Neil; Dr. Torrence Johnson, Galileo Project Scientist and part of the Voyager team; and Dr. Andy Ingersoll, a scientist on both the Voyager and Galileo teams.

       Voyager 1 and 2 and Galileo have yielded a bounty of pictures and other observations of Jupiter and its four moons, which have enabled scientists to learn new details about this giant, gaseous solar system neighbor.

       After long and fruitful journeys of planetary exploration, the two Voyager spacecraft are nearing the edge of our solar system. The Galileo spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter and its moons for nearly four years. After its primary mission ended in December 1997, it began a two-year extended mission, currently scheduled to conclude in January 2000.

       For more information, call (818) 354-5011.

       JPL manages the Galileo and Voyager missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

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