September 21, 2003

ADEUS GALILEO
Para as cerca de 800 pessoas que trabalharam na missão da sonda Galileo a Jupiter, iniciada em meados dos anos 70, hoje é um dia triste: a Galileo vai despenhar-se na superfície de Jupiter. Alguns dos que trabalharam no projecto reunem-se hoje no Jet Propulsion Laboratory, em Pasadena, para um cerimonial espacial. A história vem contada na Wired e vale a pena lê-la. Excertos: On Friday, as Galileo's end neared, mission team members expressed a broad range of emotions.

Systems engineer Nagin Cox fought off tears. But Kathy Schimmels, 32, one of the youngest Galileans, conveyed an exuberant sense of celebration of the craft's long and storied life.

"I'm excited for the final hurrah," said Schimmels, who joined the team in 1996, fresh out of a master's program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "I'm going to miss working on it, but we've got to celebrate the life it had."

Sunday's reunion of team members will include reminiscing about a mission that at times seemed cursed, but in the end went beyond NASA's expectations that it would be the first to explore the complex environment of the solar system's biggest planet.