Mission 00578 to Jupiter
Jupiter is one of the smallest planets in the universe. It has a mean radius of 10,326.8 miles. In 1957, NASA launched its first ever spacecraft to Jupiter. The spacecraft mission number is 00578. NASA expected the aircraft to arrive to Jupiter in 14 years. But after 13 years, all communication with the aircraft was lost. NASA was not able to track the spacecraft anymore. It was 1970, over 300 news stations were talking about NASA’s mission 00578 big failure. NASA did not have any response to give for the media for four months after al communication was lost with mission 00578.
On May, 9 1970, NASA’s CEO Mark Williams, announced, “We did not give up on mission 00578, and we are still trying to communicate with the spacecraft” (Mark Williams 1970). After this announcement, NASA didn’t talk about mission 00578 for seven years. In 1977, NASA was able to communicate with the spacecraft, and the spacecraft has finally arrived to Jupiter. It was a revolutionary point for NASA, because it was the first aircraft that landed on Jupiter. It took 20 years for mission 00578 to land on Jupiter.
Aircraft mission 00578 had 55 small robots that were spread on Jupiter. Each robot had a camera, and a small tube for taking samples. Those robots were controlled from earth by over 100 people, and required 24/7 monitoring. Through those small robots, NASA was able to find a living creature on Jupiter that is over five feet high. NASA immediately requested live broadcast all over the U.S. and the world. It was seven in the evening in California when Mark Williams said, “Humans, we are not alone. A living creature was found on Jupiter today” (Mark Williams 1977).
Mario Kashou