This picture shows the spacecraft which flew past Halley's comet.
Click on image for full size
JPL

Missions to Halley's comet in 1986

Six spacecraft flew to Halley's comet in 1986. There were two spacecraft launched from Japan, named Suisei and Sakigake, and two from the Soviet Union, named Vega 1 & 2. One spacecraft, ICE, was from the United States.

The main mission to Halley's comet, however, was the Giotto mission, from the European Space Agengy.

Each mission flew through different regions of the comet, as shown in this drawing.

The Giotto spacecraft flew closest to the nucleus and recovered several wonderful pictures of the nucleus. Together these missions collected lots of data on the comet.

Last modified December 5, 2000 by Jennifer Bergman.

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