Cassini Launch Rescheduled for October 13th

Cassini Launch Rescheduled for October 13th

September 19, 1997

The launch of NASA's Cassini spacecraft aboard a U.S. Air Force Titan IVB rocket has officially been rescheduled for Monday, Oct. 13. The payload is now back at Launch Complex 40 atop the Titan IV Centaur. The launch window for Cassini extends from 4:55 to 7:15 a.m. EDT (1:55 to 4:15 a.m. PDT).

Cassini is a joint mission to Saturn conducted by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the ringed planet in 2004 after more than six years of interplanetary travel. After arrival, the spacecraft will release the Huygens probe to descend to the surface of Titan, then Cassini will orbit Saturn for four years studying the gas giant planet, its rings,moons and magnetic environment.

Additional information about Cassini-Huygens is online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Cassini will begin orbiting Saturn on July 1, 2004, and release its piggybacked Huygens probe about six months later for descent through the thick atmosphere of the moon Titan. Cassini-Huygens is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Media Relations Office

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of
Technology

National Aeronautics and Space
Administration

Pasadena, Calif. 91109.
Telephone (818) 354-5011