Have any space missions visted Jupiter?

Answer 1

Jupiter has been visited by 8 different probes:

Pioneer 10 - 1973

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to ever pass through the asteroid belt, and the first to visit Jupiter up close. It made a flyby of Jupiter in December, 1973, passing 130,354 km away from the planet. During this encounter, the spacecraft took measurements of the planet's magnetosphere, radiation belts, magnetic field, and captured the first ever up close images of Jupiter and its moons. Pioneer 10 also used Jupiter's gravity to increase its velocity. Pioneer 10 then sped on a direction that will take it out of the Solar System.

Pioneer 11 - 1974

Pioneer 11 followed its partner past Jupiter in 1974. But it got much closer, passing only 43,000 km above the surface of Jupiter. It then went on to become the first spacecraft to visit Saturn. Just like Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 captured images of Jupiter and its moons, and made measurements of the planet's magnetic field, magnetosphere, atmosphere. It also sent home the most dramatic images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot ever seen.

Voyager 1 - 1979

Just a few years after the Pioneer spacecraft had sped past Jupiter, NASA's Voyager spacecraft came through the system and took even more detailed images and scientific data. Voyager 1 tracked the wind speeds in Jupiter's atmosphere, and observed lightning for the first time, crackling in the cloud tops. It also captured detailed photographs of Jupiter's largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Voyager 2 - 1979

The first step in its grand tour of the Solar System, Voyage 2 also visited Jupiter in 1979. It used the planet's gravity to give it a slingshot maneuver that allowed it to visit Saturn, Uranus and Neptune after Jupiter. Voyager 2 got within 722,000 km of the surface of Jupiter, and sent back stunning images of the entire planet.

Ulysses - 1991

NASA's Ulysses spacecraft's main purpose was to learn about the polar regions of the Sun, but no rocket engines are powerful enough to get a spacecraft above the Solar System's Ecliptic Plane. In order to complete its mission, Ulysses used the gravity of Jupiter to fling itself into a trajectory that took it above the plane of the ecliptic.

Galileo - 1995

Galileo was the first (and last) spacecraft to ever go into orbit around Jupiter. It was launched in 1989, but needed to make a few planetary flybys to get enough velocity to meet up with Jupiter in 1995. In addition to Galileo's amazing images and data, the spacecraft also carried a tiny probe that we dropped into Jupiter's atmosphere to sample the characteristics on the way down. The probe only lasted 58 minutes, reaching a depth of 200 km before it was destroyed. Galileo was deliberately crashed into Jupiter in 2003 to prevent it accidently contaminating one of Jupiter's moons.

Cassini - 2000

Although its final destination was Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a flyby of Jupiter to get a much needed gravity boost. While it was there, Cassini captured some of the most beautiful images of Jupiter and its moons ever seen.

New Horizons - 2007

The most recent spacecraft to fly past Jupiter was NASA's New Horizons, which visited in 2007. Already the fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons increased its velocity even more from the Jupiter flyby, and will reach Pluto in 2015. During its Jupiter flyby, it captured extremely detailed images of Jupiter and its moons.