Giotto mission
Giotto spacecraft illustration (NASA)
Giotto was an unmanned space mission from the European Space Agency, intended to fly by and study the Comet Halley. On March 13, 1986, Giotto approached to a distance of 596 kilometers of Halley's nucleus.
Giotto also flew by the Comet Grigg-Skjellerup, which it approached to a distance of ca. 200 kilometers.
The spacecraft was named after the mediaval painter Giotto di Bondone from Italy. Giotto di Bondone painted the star of Bethlehem as the Halley's comet.
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