A Centaur upper stage is hoisted at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for mating with the Titan IV expendable launch vehicle. The rocket was being prepared to send the Cassini spacecraft and the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe to Saturn and its moon Titan. Cassini launched Oct. 15, 1997 aboard the Titan IVB/Centaur rocket.
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.
June 20, 1997
Photo credit: NASA