Galileo mission ends as probe crashes into Jupiter 2003

Galileo spacecraft, launched October 18, 1989, ended its mission when NASA sent it plunging into Jupiter's atmosphere, September 21, 2003.  It flew by Venus in February 1990 and flew by Earth in December 1990 and approached asteroid 951 Gaspra in October 1991.  It made a second flyby of Earth in December 1992 before making close observations of another asteroid Ida.  It discovered Ida's moon Dactyl, the first time a moon orbiting an asteroid had ever been seen.  

Galileo observed fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crash into Jupiter.  Besides examining Jupiter, it made several flybys of moons Europa and Io.  

NASA turned off Galileo's cameras in January 2002, since they had been permanently damaged by radiation.  They were able to recover scientific data from a damaged tape recorder and received measurements of the moon Amalthea, before taking its final plunge.

The mission was successful beyond imagination.

Galileo spacecraft discovers asteroid Ida's moon Dactyl 1993

Dactyl 

Asteroid Ida and her moon Dactyl

On August 28, 1993, Galileo spacecraft snapped this photo of the asteroid Ida and captured an image that helped NASA scientists discover her moon, Dactyl. The picture was taken about 14 minutes before Galileo made its closest approach to Ida on its way to Jupiter.

Ida was discovered by Johann Palisa in September 1884.  Dactyl, named for the creatures that inhabited Mount Ida in Greek mythology, is about 90 km from Ida.  It measures about 1.6km x 1.4km x 1.2km.