The NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was despatched successfully en route to the planet Saturn 42min after launch by a Titan 4B/Centaur from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 15 October. The spacecraft, which had been surrounded in controversy because it uses a nuclear powerplant, will reach Saturn in July 2004 after a protracted series of gravity-assist planetary fly-bys of Venus in April 1998 and June 1999, of the Earth in August 1999, and of Jupiter in December 2000. After becoming the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, the Cassini will deploy the ESA Huygens probe to land on the moon Titan in November 2004.
Source: Flight International
