Juno Probe Now on Autopilot Ahead of July 4 Jupiter Arrival

NASA's Juno spacecraft is now flying solo ahead of its highly anticipated July 4 entry into Jupiter orbit. On Thursday afternoon (June 30), Juno's handlers sent a command to the spacecraft known as "ji4040," which is designed to transition the probe into autopilot mode, NASA officials said. "Ji4040 contains the command that starts the Jupiter orbit insertion sequence," Juno mission manager Ed Hirst, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.