Fortunately for the fate of the Universe and NASA's Juno spacecraft bound for Jupiter in particular, the stupid U.S. Congress can't shut down gravity.
On October 9, 2013, at 3:21 p.m., Juno will flyby Earth a distance of only 350 miles above South Africa to get a gravity boost of about 9,000 miles per hour to propel the spacecraft towards Jupiter.
Due to arrive at Jupiter July 4, 2016, the spacecraft designed to study Jupiter up close and personal was launched August 5, 2011. A gravity boost from Earth is necessary as NASA does not have a rocket big enough to launch Juno directly to the gas giant.
As an added bonus Juno is coming in from the Sun so it will see the Earth-Moon system from a perspective that has never been seen before. Researchers plan on making a unique movie that shows our double planet system as never seen before....I can hardly wait to see our Earth and Moon from this vantage point. I will post the movie as soon as it is available.
If we are lucky some intrepid astronomer will photograph Juno as she flies by.
Read More About It and see the accompanying movie here: http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2013/juno.htm#.UlSxMRYbRFJ
Farewell Juno!
Sky Guy in VA
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