The Ulysses spacecraft was the first and only spacecraft designed and launched to study the Sun from outside low solar latitudes. All other spacecraft that have studied the Sun have remained on the same elliptical plane as that of Earth. The spacecraft was part of a joint venture between NASA and ESA. Originally planned as a two-spacecraft mission called the International Solar Polar Mission, it was reduced to a single probe due to NASA funding cuts. This led ESA to design the spacecraft and NASA to launch it from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. The spacecraft then flew to Jupiter within two years. It used Jupiter's gravity to increase its speed and change its orbit downward and away from the plane of the ecliptic. At the end of 1994, it entered the south solar polar region and moved towards the north solar polar region. After leaving the northern region, it encountered two comets as it orbited for its next visit to the Sun. Five years after leaving the north solar polar region, he returned to explore the south pole again. Odysseus also came to his ...