Overall, this was a bit of a humorous faux pas by NASA rather than a full-blown controversy. In fact, the space agency wasn’t necessarily being overly negative, considering it would be impossible to land on Jupiter anyway. The gas giant is primarily made of swirling gasses and liquids, meaning there isn’t a solid surface that would allow humans to properly “visit” the massive planet. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for humans to fly near the planets in a spacecraft or land on Europa or one of the other planet’s moons.
NASA was also probably being realistic about the chances of many of their followers being able to make the trip to Jupiter. For one, humanity has actually never even traveled to another planet and set foot on one. Jupiter isn’t high on the list right now, as there isn’t much use for the planet as a foothold for humanity’s spacefaring adventures.
