Status
Success
Giotto
Launch Time
Tue Jul 02, 1985 11:23 UTC
Tue Jul 02, 1985 11:23 UTC
Flight V14, first European exploration probe launched by a European rocket, from European soil.
Rocket
Mission Details
Giotto
Giotto was a European robotic spacecraft mission from the European Space Agency. The spacecraft flew by and studied Halley's Comet and in doing so became the first spacecraft to make close-up observations of a comet. On 13 March 1986, the spacecraft succeeded in approaching Halley's nucleus at a distance of 596 kilometers. It was named after the Early Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone, who drew perfect free-hand circles according to Giorgio Vasari's biography. He had observed Halley's Comet in 1301 and was inspired to depict it as the star of Bethlehem in his painting Adoration of the Magi.
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 583.0 kg
Heliocentric Orbit
Location
ELA-1, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, France
Stats
1985
57th orbital launch attempt
Arianespace
6th mission
3rd mission of 1985
6th successful mission
Ariane 1
10th mission
1st mission of 1985
8th successful mission
5th consecutive successful mission