Galileo:
As it built up the necessary speed to get to Jupiter,
Jupiter, Galileo had a chance to fly by two
asteroids. In 1991, Galileo passed the asteroid 951 Gaspra at a
distance of 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles). Galileo found that
Gaspra is an irregular object (19 by 12 by 11 kilometers), which lacks the large craters
common on many planetary satellites.
In 1993, Galileo had crossed paths with asteroid 243 Ida, at a distance
of 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles). Much to everyone's surprise, Galileo
images showed a tiny moon orbiting Ida - the first known moon of asteroid. Dactyl, about
1.5 kilometers in diameter, orbits about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Ida's center.
Visit the Galileo Website
Galileo was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
