Cassini-Huygens

Cassini-Huygens launched on October 15, 1997, and after a seven-year cruise became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. In January 2005 it released the European-built Huygens probe, which parachuted through the orange haze of Titan and landed on a plain of ice pebbles — still the most distant landing ever performed — revealing a world of methane rivers, lakes, and rain.

Over 13 years and 294 orbits, Cassini discovered geysers of water erupting from the moon Enceladus, watched seasons change across Saturn’s rings, and returned some of the most beautiful images in the history of exploration. With fuel running low in 2017, it was flown through the gap between Saturn and its rings and into the planet itself, protecting the ocean moons it had revealed.