Updated by NPR dot-org 1:40 a.m. ET with Juno orbit maneuver
After a nearly five-year journey, NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft achieved orbit around Jupiter on Monday night. Juno navigated a tricky maneuver — including slowing by around 1,212 mph — to insert itself into orbit in what NASA calls "the king of our solar system."
At 11:18 p.m. ET, Juno transmitted a radio signal to Earth that meant its main engine had switched on. It stayed on for 35 minutes, placing Juno into exactly the orbit that mission managers had planned for.
from Planetary Society website (www.planetary.org/) :
Juno is now just 3 days and less than 4 million kilometers from Jupiter orbit insertion. As of yesterday, it's on autopilot; Earth will just wait and watch it go through orbit insertion, hopefully successfully, on July 4 at 20:53 local California time (July 5 03:53, UTC).
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2016/07011342-whats-up-july-2016.html
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from NASA dot-gov (posted for July 4):
Juno To Arrive at Jupiter Today, July 4
This Fourth of July, NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter after an almost five-year journey. In the evening of July 4, Juno will perform a suspenseful orbit insertion maneuver, a 35-minute burn of its main engine, to slow the spacecraft by about 1,212 miles per hour (542 meters per second) so it can be captured into the gas giant’s orbit. NASA TV coverage of orbital insertion begins on July 4 at 10:30 p.m. EDT.
Once in Jupiter’s orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Jovian world 37 times during 20 months, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 km) above the cloud tops. This is the first time a spacecraft will orbit the poles of Jupiter, providing new answers to ongoing mysteries about the planet’s core, composition and magnetic fields.
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