In 1961, a UCLA graduate student at JPL discovered how spacecraft could borrow speed from planetary gravity. Decades later, his gravity-assist technique produced a fuel-saving breakthrough that transformed deep-space exploration

In 1961, UCLA graduate student Michael Minovitch found a smarter way to move spacecraft through space. At JPL, he studied planetary gravity on his own time. His calculations showed how a spacecraft could use a planet’s motion to change speed and direction without burning fuel during the flyby. That breakthrough helped shape modern gravity-assist missions. Today, NASA still uses this technique to reach distant planets while saving precious spacecraft fuel.