The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was created in 1936 at the California Institute of Technology. Its purpose is to study rocket propulsion. When NASA was created in 1958, the JPL became a part of it. The JPL continues to be operated by the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, California.

Today, researchers at the JPL design robotic spacecraft and instruments to study and explore our solar system. Spacecraft developed at the JPL have been to all the planets in our solar system except for Pluto. A visit to Pluto is being planned.

Many missions are currently underway. Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977,   have traveled billions of miles away from Earth.  Voyager 1 visited Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. Voyager 2 visited Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. The Galileo spacecraft, launched in 1989, studies Jupiter.  The Magellan spacecraft studies Venus and was also launched in 1989. The Ulysses spacecraft, which studies the Sun's polar regions, was launched in 1990. The Topex/Poseiden satellite orbits Earth and charts changes in sea levels. It was launched in 1992.

The JPL also runs the Deep Space Network. This is an organization that does space research and communicates with spacecraft. It has stations in the Mojave Desert in California, in Spain and in Australia.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for many important parts of the space program.

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