WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- NASA's solar-powered Juno probe is less than three weeks and 8.6 million miles away from its Jupiter flyby, scheduled for July 4. Upon its initial approach, Juno will fly within 2,900 miles of the gas giant's upper atmosphere.
"At this time last year our New Horizons spacecraft was closing in for humanity's first close views of Pluto," Diane Brown, Juno program executive at NASA's headquarters, said in a news release. "Now, Juno is poised to go closer to Jupiter than any spacecraft ever before to unlock the mysteries of what lies within."