Liftoff of the Cassini Spacecraft

Liftoff of the Cassini Spacecraft

October 15, 1997

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

TITAN IV/CASSINI-HUYGENS LAUNCH STATUS REPORT

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1997 (4:43 AM EDT)

KSC Public Affairs Contact: George Diller (fax 407-867-2692)

E-mail: George.Diller-1@ksc.nasa.gov

A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn began at 4:43 a.m. EDT with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. A post-launch news conference will be held at approximately launch plus two hours and broadcast on NASA Television.

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.

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