1.   A rocket motor failed and the spacecraft did not reach its intended orbit.

2.   A jarring parachute descent and a final drop of nearly a mile controlled by untried pulsing thrusters must unfold precisely to ensure the spacecraft reaches the Martian surface intact.

3.   DOE officials say it is necessary to the mission because no other type of battery will last long enough to be useful once the spacecraft reaches Saturn.

4.   Next year the Galileo spacecraft will reach Jupiter and go into orbit around the planet.

5.   Planetary astronomers are hoping for more information next year, when the Galileo spacecraft reaches Jupiter and releases a probe that will descend into the Jovian atmosphere.

6.   But a spacecraft can reach a higher orbit with less energy from a launch site closer to the equator, such as Baikonur.

7.   Nine minutes later, word came that the Soyuz spacecraft had reached orbit.

8.   The launch was successful and the spacecraft reached the designated orbit nine minutes after blast-off, he said.

9.   The spacecraft reached Mars in October and spent months reducing its elongated initial orbit through a process called aerobraking.

10.   The Ulysses spacecraft has reached the high point of its trip during a solar voyage that began five years ago.