On July 9, 1979, NASA’s Voyager 2 made history with a daring close encounter at Jupiter. Skimming just 350,000 miles (570,000 km) above the swirling cloud tops of the giant planet, the intrepid spacecraft captured breathtaking views while using Jupiter’s powerful gravity like a cosmic slingshot. This gravity assist dramatically accelerated Voyager 2 and flung it onward toward its next destination: Saturn. What was once a slow journey across the solar system suddenly became a high-speed adventure