This image shows an Atlas V rocket launching with the Juno spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

(Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES -- Scientists say NASA's Jupiter-bound spacecraft that looped around Earth to catapult to the outer solar system, is operating normally again.

The Southwest Research Institute, which leads the mission's science operations, said Friday that Juno is out of "safe mode." That's a state a spacecraft is programmed to go into when it senses something is wrong.

Juno hit a snag earlier this week after it flew past Earth to increase its speed to barrel beyond the asteroid belt to Jupiter.

Despite the problem, scientists say Juno is on target to slip into orbit around Jupiter. It's expected to arrive in 2016.

Juno was launched in 2011 and flew beyond the orbit of Earth's closest planetary neighbor, Mars, before looping back toward our home planet for a quick visit.

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Despite a government shutdown that has prevented NASA from updating its website or tweeting, the space agency's missions continue to operate. Earlier this week, NASA's newest spacecraft, LADEE, slipped into orbit around the moon.

Since the 1970s, spacecraft have circled or flown past Jupiter including the Voyagers, Pioneers, Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini and, most recently, the New Horizons barreling toward Pluto. Missions have beamed back stunning views of Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot, a raging hurricane-like storm, and its many moons.

Juno promises to inch closer to Jupiter than previous spacecraft, orbiting the planet for at least a year and studying its cloud-covered atmosphere and mysterious interior to better understand how the giant planet formed.

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Artist rendering of planetary discoveries by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. (NASA/W. Stenzel)