NASA's Juno spacecraft begins bid to orbit Jupiter

MIAMI:

NASA's Juno spacecraft began its attempt to orbit Jupiter, the largest and most massive planet in the solar system, the US space agency announced.

The unmanned solar-powered observatory began firing its main engine to slow down enough to be captured into Jupiter's orbit at 11:18 pm on Monday (0318 GMT on Tuesday), said officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"We see the expected sharp shift upward in the Doppler residuals indicating the engine has started," said a member of mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as applause filled the room.

It will be 35 minutes before NASA learns whether the maneuver was successful.

The mission cost $1.1 billion dollars and launched five years ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida.