The Cassini Mission

Cassini was a robot spacecraft sent to study Saturn. It launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. Cassini took amazing pictures of the planet and its rings. It also carried a smaller craft called Huygens that landed on Saturn's moon Titan.

The Journey to Saturn

Cassini traveled for almost seven years to reach Saturn. It flew past Venus, Earth, and Jupiter on the way. The spacecraft used gravity from these planets to speed up. When it arrived, it went into orbit around Saturn. It stayed there for 13 years doing science.

Amazing Discoveries

Cassini found new moons around Saturn that nobody had seen before. It showed that the moon Enceladus shoots water into space. Cassini also studied Saturn's huge rings made of ice and rock. The mission ended in 2017 when the spacecraft dove into Saturn on purpose. This was called the Grand Finale.

Fun Facts

• Cassini traveled more than 4.9 billion miles during its mission.
• The Huygens probe was the first craft to land on a moon in the outer solar system.
• Cassini discovered seven new moons around Saturn.

Did You Know?

Cassini sent back more than 450,000 pictures of Saturn and its moons during its mission.