Development/planning: 12 years Interplanetary cruise: 6 years Orbiting Jupiter: almost 8 years Original idea: October 1977 Original name: Jupiter Orbiter Probe mission Launched: Oct. 18, 1989 onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis Venus flyby: Feb. 10, 1990 First Earth flyby: Dec. 8, 1990 Asteroid Gaspra flyby: Oct. 29, 1991 Second Earth flyby: Dec. 8, 1992 Asteroid Ida flyby: Aug. 28, 1993 Witnessed comet Shoemaker-Levy crash into Jupiter: July 1994 Arrival at Jupiter: Dec. 7, 1995 Number of orbits around Jupiter: 35 End of mission: Sept. 21, 2003 Total distance traveled: (from launch to impact) 4,631,778,000 kilometers (2,878,053,500 miles) Propellant used: (not counting the fuel for the shuttle) 925 kilograms (246 gallons) Data returned: more than 30 Gigabytes Pictures returned: about 14,000 Staff: up to 300