>ESA's first deep space mission, Giotto was designed to help solve the mysteries
surrounding Comet Halley by passing as close as possible to the comet's nucleus,
which it achieved on 14 March 1986 at a distance of just under 600 km. No-one
expected the spacecraft to survive its battering from comet dust during this encounter,
but although Giotto was damaged during the flyby, most of its instruments remained operational.
The mission was extended to allow a additional encounter with comet Grigg-Skjellerup on 10 July 1992, at a
distance of around 200 km.