The deployment of the Galileo space probe by the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989.
Galileo has spent almost eight years in the Jovian system, gathering immense amounts of information about the Solar System's largest planet and its moons. Now, with the ship's power nearly gone, NASA has put it into a course that will carry it down into the Jovian clouds this coming Sunday. For all the troubles NASA has had with Martian probes in recent years, it's worth remembering that a successful probe can yield astonishing results, vastly increasing our knowledge of our celestial neighborhood.
Godspeed, Galileo.
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