QUESTION:
Why was Galileo named Galileo?

ANSWER from the Web on December 20, 1995:
On January 7, 1610, Galileo Galilei turned his 30 power telescope towards
Jupiter, and found three small, bright stars near the planet. One was off to
the west, the other two were to the east, all three in a straight line.
The following evening, Galileo once again took a look at Jupiter, and found
that all three of the "stars" were now west of the planet, still in a
straight line! Observations over the following weeks lead Galileo to the
inescapable conclusion that these small "stars" were actually small
satellites that were rotating about Jupiter.

Because Galileo Galilei was a person who long ago made significant
discoveries about Jupiter, it was decided that the spacecraft
designed to make modern discoveries about Jupiter should pay tribute to
the original pioneer.  Thus the name Galileo was chosen.

More information about Galileo Galilie can be found on the Web at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/galileo/About/galileobio.html