The Giotto space probe was launched in 1986 specifically to examine what?
Giotto in which a comet-like Star of Bethlehem streaks across the sky. Giotto is thought to have been inspired by the 1301 appearance of Halley's comet, which led to the name "Giotto" being given to a 1986 space probe to the comet. Giotto's depiction of the human face and emotion sets his work apart from that of his contemporaries. When the disgraced Joachim returns sadly to the hillside, the two young shepherds look sideways at each other. The soldier who drags a baby from its screaming mother in the "Massacre of the Innocents" does so with his head hunched into his
Giotto (spacecraft) of the Magi". Originally a United States partner probe was planned that would accompany "Giotto", but this fell through due to budget cuts at NASA. There were plans to have observation equipment on board a Space Shuttle in low-Earth orbit around the time of "Giotto"s fly-by, but they in turn fell through with the "Challenger" disaster. The plan then became a cooperative armada of five spaceprobes including "Giotto", two from the Soviet Union's Vega program and two from Japan: the "Sakigake" and "Suisei" probes. The idea was for Japanese probes and the pre-existing American probe International Cometary Explorer to make