The Huygens probe, part of the Cassini mission, is off-loaded from a plane at the Skid Strip runway on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The probe studied the clouds, atmosphere and surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Cassini launched Oct. 15, 1997 aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur rocket from Launch Complex 40.
A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Cassini has been studying the Saturnian system since its June 30, 2004 arrival at the ringed planet. The spacecraft has returned remarkable images and readings of Saturn, its rings and moons. Cassini also carried the Huygens probe, which parachuted to the surface of the planet’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005. The mission will end Sept. 15 with an atmospheric entry into Saturn. For more information and images from the mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini.
April 2, 1997
Photo credit: NASA