Literally going out in a blaze of glory, the Galileo spacecraft’s atmospheric probe separates from the orbiter and plunges into Jupiter’s atmosphere. The probe sends a stream of data back to the orbiter and manages to survive 58.5 minutes before it is crushed by the intense pressure. Galileo was launched from the space shuttle in 1989.
The Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be operational in the late 2020s, several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, Air Force officials told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel. The CCAs will first be “shooters,” then electronic warfare platforms, then sensors, in that order, they added.