Parachute test

A full-size model of the Huygens Probe was carried to 37.5 km altitude in May 1995 by a stratospheric balloon over Kiruna, Sweden and released to test the parachute systems. The slide shows the Probe/ balloon combination soon after beginning ascent. See also the slide 'On Swedish snow'.

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.