On Oct. 15, 1997, NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft on a mission to explore Saturn and its moons.
It took almost 7 years for Cassini to reach Saturn. Another smaller spacecraft called Huygens hitched a ride with Cassini, and it was dropped off at Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Cassini spent 13 years studying the Saturn system up close, and the mission lasted about 20 years before coming to an epic grand finale on Sept. 15, 2017. Running low on fuel, NASA chose to steer Cassini straight into Saturn's atmosphere, where the spacecraft was destroyed.
It took almost 7 years for Cassini to reach Saturn. Another smaller spacecraft called Huygens hitched a ride with Cassini, and it was dropped off at Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Cassini spent 13 years studying the Saturn system up close, and the mission lasted about 20 years before coming to an epic grand finale on Sept. 15, 2017. Running low on fuel, NASA chose to steer Cassini straight into Saturn's atmosphere, where the spacecraft was destroyed.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03In 1997, NASA launched the Cassini spacecraft on a mission to explore Saturn and its moons.
00:08It took almost seven years for Cassini to reach Saturn.
00:11Another smaller spacecraft called Huygens hitched a ride with Cassini,
00:15and it was dropped off at Saturn's moon Titan in 2005.
00:18Cassini spent 13 years studying the Saturn system up close,
00:21and the mission lasted about 20 years before coming to an epic grand finale on September 15, 2017.
00:27Running low on fuel, NASA chose to steer Cassini straight into Saturn's atmosphere,
00:32where the spacecraft was destroyed.
00:34And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:37♪