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It was the DIY project that captured the hearts of space enthusiasts the world over - could a team of scientists really re-gain control of a long-thought dead spacecraft?

In late May they wowed us all by making first contact, and now they've proven their ambitions yet again by firing the thrusters on the 36-year-old spacecraft.

And today they'll complete the first trajectory change for ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer), with the goal of flying past the moon on 10 August and eventually entering orbit between Earth and the Sun.

A team of citizen scientists has successfully regained control of the once-thought 'dead' ISEE-3 spacecraft (illustration shown). The team made first contact with the probe in late May and has now fired the thrusters on the vehicle, with a view to flying past the moon on 10 August

The initial burn, which took place a few days ago, involved 11 'pulses' of the spacecraft's hydrazine thrusters.

This had the goal of increasing the 'spin' of the spacecraft from 19.16 revolutions per minute to about 19.75, almost exactly what the original mission specifications called for.

'In other words: bullseye,' one of the lead scientists, Keith Cowing, writes at Space College.

The team of scientists were given the go-ahead by Nasa to crowd-fund the revival of the seemingly 'dead' spacecraft earlier this year.

Contact was last made with the spacecraft, called ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer), in the late 90s.

As it approached our planet, scientists had a brief chance to communicate with the 36-year-old probe in an attempt to bring it back to life - which they managed to do in late May.

'The ISEE-3 Reboot Project is pleased to announce that our team has established two-way communication with the ISEE-3 spacecraft and has begun commanding it to perform specific functions,' said Cowing at the time.

First contact with ISEE-3 was achieved at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is continuing to be used as a means to communicate with the probe.

The achievement was a collaboration with a number of other organisations and people including the staff at Arecibo and a team at the Bochum Observatory in Germany.

In April the ISEE-3 Reboot Project team - made up of the groups Space College, Skycorp, and SpaceRef - undertook a successful crowd funding project to raise £74,000 ($125,000) to rescue the probe.

Nasa also officially endorsed the Virginia-based project and signed a space act agreement for the group to take command and control of the 1970s-era craft.

This is the first time Nasa has worked on such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again.

'We contacted the spacecraft after recreating hardware that was discarded by Nasa decades ago using command language that was recreated from old documents that were sitting in former employees' basements,' Cowan told MailOnline.

He also revealed how they intended to use the spacecraft for science again, and to involve citizens in it in a way not attempted before.

'The intrepid ISEE-3 spacecraft was sent away from its primary mission to study the physics of the solar wind extending its mission of discovery to study two comets,' said former Nasa astronaut John Grunsfeld.

'We have a chance to engage a new generation of citizen scientists through this creative effort to recapture the ISEE-3 spacecraft as it zips by the Earth this summer.'

In March, amateur radio astronomers were able to track the spacecraft and find out its route, raising hopes that the mission could be revived.

The mission's original communication hardware no longer exists, so controlling the spacecraft required the amateur group to create virtual software versions of the original hardware. Once proving this was possible, the project is now using the Arecibo Radio Observatory (pictured) in Puerto Rico to send commands to ISEE-3

Launched in 1978 to study the constant flow of solar wind streaming toward Earth, ISEE-3 successfully completed its prime mission in 1981.

With remaining fuel and functioning instruments, it then was redirected to observe two comets.

Following the end of that mission, the spacecraft continued in orbit around the sun. It is now making its closest approach to Earth in more than 30 years.

The goal of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project is to put the spacecraft into an orbit at a gravitationally stable point between Earth and the sun known as Lagrangian 1 (L1).

Once safely back in orbit, the next step will be to return the spacecraft to operations and use its instruments as they were originally designed.

ISEE-3's close approach provided optimal conditions to attempt communication.

Nasa said it had shared technical data with the amateur group to help them communicate with and return data from ISEE-3.

The mission's original communication hardware no longer exists, so controlling the spacecraft required the amateur group to create virtual software versions of the original hardware.

Having done this, the project is using the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico to send commands to ISEE-3.

New data resulting from the project will be shared with the science community and the public, providing a unique tool for teaching students and the public about spacecraft operations and data gathering.

The data also will provide valuable information about the effects of the space environment on the 36-year old spacecraft.