Cassini-Huygens was launched on 15 October 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.After nearly 13 years in orbit around Saturn, the international Cassini-Huygens mission is going through its final chapter: NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is performing a series of daring dives between the planet and its rings, leading to a dramatic final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere on 15 September.
On 14 January 2005, ESA’s Huygens probe, which hitched a ride to the Saturn system attached to Cassini during the seven-year voyage, entered the history books by descending to the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This was humanity’s first successful attempt to land a probe on another world in the outer Solar System.
Huygens made a 21-day solo cruise toward the haze-shrouded moon. Plunging into Titan’s atmosphere, the probe touched down safely on Titan’s frozen surface.
Huygens provided a stream of data representing a unique treasure trove of in situ measurements from the planet-sized satellite which scientists are still mining today.
This video by the European Space Agency recalls the ‘one of a kind’ journey of Huygens.