Solar-powered visitor begins orbiting Jupiter

Updated: 2016-07-06 07:27

(Agencies)

 

NASA mission leaders celebrate as the solar-powered Juno spacecraft goes into orbit around Jupiter on Monday, July 4, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Soaring over Jupiter's poles, a NASA spacecraft arrived at the solar system's largest planet on a mission to peek behind the cloud tops.

The final leg of the five-year voyage ended on Monday when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft fired its main rocket engine and gracefully slipped into orbit around Jupiter. NASA mission controllers celebrated when Juno sent back radio signals confirming it had reached its destination.

"We're there. We're in orbit. We conquered Jupiter," Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said during a post-mission briefing.