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NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter has left safe mode and has successfully completed a minor burn of its thruster engines in preparation for its next close flyby of Jupiter.

Juno mission managers are working to bring the spacecraft out of safe mode, while the science team shares interesting findings from the August 27 Jupiter flyby. 

Mission managers for Juno have decided to postpone the upcoming burn of its main rocket motor originally scheduled for Oct. 19. This burn, called the period reduction maneuver (PRM), was to reduce Juno’s orbital period around Jupiter from 53.4 to 14 days.

NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 6:44 a.m. PDTwhen Juno passed about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds.

This Saturday at 5:51 a.m. PDT Juno will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter than at any other time during its prime mission. At the moment of closest approach, Juno will be about 2,500 miles above Jupiter's swirling clouds and traveling at 130,000 mph with respect to the planet. 

Juno will reach the farthest point in its orbit of Jupiter for the first time, known as “apojove." 

This scene from JunoCam indicates it survived its first pass through Jupiter's extreme radiation environment without any degradation and is ready to take on Jupiter.

The engineers and scientists working on NASA’s Juno mission have been busying themselves, getting their newly arrived Jupiter orbiter ready for operations around the largest planetary inhabitant in the solar system. 

NASA’s Juno mission has completed its main engine burn and entered orbit around Jupiter. Watch the live NASA news briefing at 10 p.m. PDT for more information. 

After almost five years and 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometers), NASA's Juno mission is about to enter into orbit around the biggest planetary inhabitant in our solar system – Jupiter.