Giotto mission

100 Giotto was a European unmanned space mission from the European Space Agency planned to flying by and studies Halley's Comet.

Mission
On March 13, 1986, Giotto approached at a 596 kilometer detachment from Halley's nucleus.

The space probe "Giotto" from the European Space Agency was planned to study Halley's Comet. The spaceship was named after the medieval Italian painter Giotto di Bondone. He had observed Halley's Comet in 1301 and was stimulated to depict it as the star of Bethlehem in his painting The Christmas Story.

Originally a United States partner probe was intended that would accompany Giotto, but this fell from side to side due to budget cuts at NASA. There were plans to have watching equipment on-board a Space Shuttle in low-Earth orbit around the time of Giotto's fly-by, but they fell through with the Challenger disaster.