Clearing the Tower

The Cassini spacecraft and Huygens probe begin their seven-year journey to the ringed planet. The successful launch of the spacecraft aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur occured at 08:43 UT, 15 October 1997.

Cassini-Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA mission. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will orbit Saturn for four years, making an extensive survey of the ringed planet. The ESA Huygens probe will be the first to land on a world in the outer Solar System - on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Data from Cassini and Huygens may offer clues about how life began on Earth.