Ulysses was a robotic space probe whose primary mission was to orbit the Sun and study it at all latitudes. It was launched in 1990 and made three "fast latitude scans" of the Sun in 1994/1995, 2000/2001, and 2007/2008. The direct injection of a space probe from the Earth into a polar orbit around the Sun is not possible with current rocket technologies. Therefore, Ulysses was put to orbit using "gravity assist" of Jupiter through a long adventurous journey, Odyssey.
Further reading Wikipedia and European Space Agency.
Ulysses' journey is the journey I had proposed for another perspective to the solar system. It shows how difficult it is to go beyond our solar system. Hope we can build new Ulysses that orbit much closer to the sun so that solar panels and sails can be utilized as well. Venus gravity assist is proposed in this article Baseline trajectory design for solar polar detection using gravity assists.
Note: Ulysses is the Latin translation of "Odysseus".
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