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Mission record

Ulysses

Also known as International Solar Polar Mission, ISPM, Solar Polar

ESA, NASA · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

Joint ESA-NASA mission, launched from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Discovery and swung out of the ecliptic by a Jupiter swingby in February 1992, which investigated the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field as a function of solar latitude and provided the first-ever map of the heliosphere from the equator to the poles; the mission ended with the loss of contact on 30 June 2009.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41)
Launch site
Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B
Countries
Germany, United States
Mission types
Flyby, Heliophysics

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launch from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Discovery

    NASA gives a launch date and time of Oct. 6, 1990 / 11:47:16 UT from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. / Launch Complex 39B, and the launch/orbital page prints 1990-10-06T11:47:16Z. About 7.5 hours after launch Ulysses was sent on its way into heliocentric orbit via an inertial upper stage and payload-assist module. NSSDCA's Facts in Brief instead prints a Launch Vehicle of Shuttle-Centaur G-Prime and a Launch Site of Cape Canaveral, United States; the record follows the two sources that agree and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved.

    Earth

  2. Flyby

    Jupiter swingby out of the ecliptic

    The launch/orbital page gives a closest approach time of 1992-02-08 12:00:56 and a periapsis of 6.30 RJ, defining RJ as Jovian radii (1 RJ = 71,398 km). NASA writes that Ulysses passed within about 235,000 miles (378,400 kilometers) of Jupiter at 12:02 UT Feb. 8, 1992, becoming the fifth spacecraft to reach Jupiter. The two disagree on both the time and the distance and both are recorded.

    Jupiter

  3. Milestone

    First passes over the Sun's poles

    South polar observations extended from June 26 to Nov. 6, 1994, when the vehicle was above 70 degrees solar latitude. ESA writes that Ulysses passed over the Sun's south pole in 1994, and the north pole in 1995.

  4. Mission end

    Loss of contact with the spacecraft

    Mission operations continued at reduced capacity until loss of contact on June 30, 2009, more than 18.5 years after launch. ESA's overview gives a mission end of 30 June 2009.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Ulysses · Spacecraft · Mission end: 30 June 2009

    Destinations: Jupiter

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 3, 2026