The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) performed its first Earth gravity-assist maneuver on September 28, 2026, passing at 8,640 km altitude over the Indian Ocean at 11:45 UTC. The spacecraft captured images of the Moon from 408,000 km distance approximately 10 hours before closest approach.
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Tomorrow morning, Sep 28, 2026 - 1. The ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will perform its first slingshot flyby of Earth, 8,640 km altitude at closest approach over the Indian Ocean at 1145 UTC. 2. SpaceX will attempt Starship flight 14 around 1215 UTC. Starship will deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites (larger, higher capacity, laser-comm) and complete ~6 orbits around earth in a ~10-hour fligh
Here is a pic of the Moon taken by the ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) at 0127 UTC, about 10 hours before closest approach to Earth earlier today. Juice was 408,000 km from Earth, just outside the orbit of the Moon, getting a side view of the the Moon from 130,000 km afar. https://www. esa.int/Science_Exploration/Sp ace_Science/Juice/Successful_Earth_flyby_improves_Juice_s_course_to_Jupiter
Here is a diagram of the trajectory and location of the ESA Juice spacecraft on Sept 28 at 0127 UTC, when the pic of the moon above was taken. Juice was 408,000 km from Earth, just outside the orbit of the Moon, getting a side view of the the Moon from 130,000 km afar. A few other spacecraft are also visible in the vicinity. The Roman Telescope is getting close to the area around L2, to join Eucli