NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft on a seven-year voyage to Saturn on October 15, 1997.
NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft toward Saturn on October 15, 1997, beginning a flagship planetary mission that spanned two decades. The $3.26 billion spacecraft lifted off aboard a Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to historical archives.
NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft toward Saturn on October 15, 1997, beginning a flagship planetary mission that spanned two decades. The $3.26 billion spacecraft lifted off aboard a Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, according to historical archives. It took nearly seven years for Cassini to reach the ringed planet, entering orbit in 2004 as the first probe to do so.
The mission included the European Space Agency's Huygens lander, which successfully touched down on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Over 13 years of close-up study, Cassini revealed dynamic rings, liquid hydrocarbon features on Titan, a hexagonal jetstream at Saturn's north pole, and icy water plumes erupting from the moon Enceladus.
NASA ultimately ended the mission on September 15, 2017, by steering the fuel-depleted spacecraft into Saturn's atmosphere to burn up. Space agency officials stated this deliberate destruction protected pristine moons like Enceladus and Titan from accidental biological contamination.
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Original publication: 16 October 2026 00:43
