William J. “Bill” O’Neil 

William J. “Bill” O’Neil received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1961. Two years later, he commenced his career by joining NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he assumed various prominent roles. Notably, O’Neil served as chief of navigation for the Mariner Mars mission in 1971 and for Viking (marking the first U.S. landing on Mars) in 1972. In 1980, O’Neil took on his most significant mission at NASA, leading the exploration of Jupiter. This endeavor materialized into the Galileo Project, which launched on Oct. 18, 1989. The spacecraft, measuring 17 feet long and weighing 2.2 tons, aimed to launch a probe that would orbit Jupiter and analyze its atmosphere. With a $1.3 billion budget, O’Neil served as project manager, overseeing the entire mission. After a six-year journey covering 2.4 billion miles, the Galileo spacecraft reached Jupiter on July 7, 1995. Originally slated to conclude in 1997, the mission was extended for six years, encompassing three more missions. Ultimately, on Sept. 21, 2003, the Galileo spacecraft was deliberately plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere. In 1997, O’Neil presented Pope John Paul II with an album featuring the most spectacular images captured by the Galileo spacecraft. That year, Purdue recognized O’Neil with a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award.