The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, becoming the first to penetrate an outer planet atmosphere and the first to orbit an outer planet. It was also the first spacecraft to perform asteroid flybys — Gaspra in October 1991 and Ida in August 1993. Project Galileo discovered a natural satellite of Ida, the first ever sighting of an asteroid satellite. The Galileo Orbiter is now in a two-year scientific tour of the Jupiter system.

The man behind the project was William O’Neil, who received his degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1961 and earned his master’s from USC.

Prior to joining the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on 1963, he worked at Boeing Airplane Company and Lockheed Missiles and Space Company.

His assignments with JPL have included trajectory design and navigation for Surveyor, the first soft landing lunar spacecraft, navigation chief for Viking — the first soft landings on Mars — and manager of the JPL mission design department.

O’Neil served as the science and mission design manager for Project Galileo during its development phase. In February 1990, O’Neil was appointed Galileo Project Manager, about which he has lectured nationally and internationally and written many articles. He has also appeared on PBS and the Discovery Channel.

O’Neil was twice awarded the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and has earned the NASA Group Achievement Award three times. He and his wife live in Sierra Madre, California. They have three children.