When it Comes to Space Travel, NASA has the Juice—But ESA has JUICE

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission will spend the next eight years on a voyage to study the gas giant and three of its water-bearing moons

Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 05:57 PM ET

Verified

The JUICE spacecraft sits atop an Ariane 5 launcher April 12 at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. [Courtesy: ESA]

Key Takeaways:

The Space Race is long over. But in the decades since that prolonged competition, North America has led the way.

Since 1973, there have been nine missions to the outer solar system, and the U.S. has had a hand in all of them. European agencies have also reached the outer planets a pair of times, but those voyages—the Ulysses and Cassini-Hudgens missions—had heavy NASA involvement.

Jack Daleo

Jack is a staff writer covering advanced air mobility, including everything from drones to unmanned aircraft systems to space travel—and a whole lot more. He spent close to two years reporting on drone delivery for FreightWaves, covering the biggest news and developments in the space and connecting with industry executives and experts. Jack is also a basketball aficionado, a frequent traveler and a lover of all things logistics.