The Huygens space probe, the atmospheric entry lander of the Cassini-Huygens mission, landed on Saturn's moon, Titan, January 14, 2005. It was the farthest landing of any spacecraft and the first landing on Titan. Built and operated by the European Space Agency, the spacecraft was launched August 1997.
A storm in the northern hemisphere photographed by Cassini in 2011.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, launched October 15, 1997, was a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini was the fourth space probe to encounter Saturn but the first to enter into orbit.
The Cassini probe was named after Giovanni Cassini, an Italian astronomer who discovered four of Saturn's moons and noted the separation of her rings.
The lander Huygens lander was named after Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan and is noted for his studies of Saturn's rings.
Cassini arrived in July 2004 and spent the next 13 years, far beyond its intended mission, studying the planet. It was intentionally sent plunging into Saturn's atmosphere September 2017, to destroy it, preventing it from contaminating other celestial bodies.
The lander Huygens descended to the surface of Titan January 2015. It took the first pictures from the surface of another moon besides ours.
Just before 8am EDT today, Cassini, the spacecraft sent to study Saturn and her moons, sent her last signal. She plunged into the Saturnian atmosphere to end a massively successful mission. Launched October 15, 1997, she spent Cassini spent 7 years en route and arrived at Saturn in 2004. For 13 years, she has explored the gas giant and released the Huygens probe from the ESA to land on Titan, a first for a celestial body in the outer solar system.
Cassini did flybys of Jupiter, our moon and Asteroid 2685 Masursky. She discovered new moons Methone, Pallene, Polydeucesin, Daphnis, Anthe, Aegaeon and S/2009 S 1. I'm sure they will find a better name for the last one.
She also performed flybys of moons Titan, Phoebe, Enceladus, Iapetus, Rhea, Hyperion and Dione.
Seventeen countries joined together in this effort.
