- Date
- 1997–2017
- Mission
- Cassini–Huygens
#NASA#Saturn#Cassini
The Cassini–Huygens mission spent thirteen years at Saturn, revealing a dynamic ring system, methane lakes on Titan and active plumes from Enceladus.
Mission timeline
Select a phase to read what happened. Every chapter has its own detailed page.
Launch and cruise
Cassini–Huygens launched on a Titan IVB rocket toward Saturn.
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Arrival at Saturn
The spacecraft entered Saturn orbit and began its long scientific tour.
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Titan and Enceladus
Cassini and Huygens revealed active geology and complex chemistry on Saturn’s moons.
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Grand Finale
Cassini completed close passes between Saturn and its rings before its final dive.
Read the chapterFacts
- Launched in 1997.
- Entered Saturn orbit in 2004.
- Delivered the Huygens lander to Titan.
- Ended with a controlled dive into Saturn in 2017.
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Check yourself
How do you land on a moon you’ve never seen the surface of?
Answer in your own words — everything you need is in the article above.
Sources & further reading
- Mission overview and discoveries.
- Mission history and science.
- Mission record.
- Public-domain Cassini images.
Spaceflightpedia. (n.d.). Cassini–Huygens. Retrieved 9 October 2026, from https://spaceflightpedia.com/article/cassini-huygens
article text — CC-BY-SA · ◉ NASA photography — public domain · ✦ AI illustration — marked, generated from sources
