Cassini-Huygens

Chronology

Mission timeline

1. October 15, 1997

   Launch

   Cassini-Huygens launched

   Earth
2. April 26, 1998, 13:44:30 UTC

   Gravity assist

   First Venus gravity assist

   The master catalog records that, unable to be launched directly to Saturn with the propulsion systems available at the time, Cassini took a roundabout route referred to as a VVEJGA (Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter Gravity Assist) trajectory, making two flybys of Venus (April 1998 and June 1999), one of the Earth (August 1999), and one of Jupiter (December 2000), and that various observations were made at each of these encounters in order to verify instrument and spacecraft systems as well as to perform calibration observations. The launch/orbital information page prints a Flyby row with Central Body Venus and Closest approach time (UTC) 1998-04-26 13:44:30, and a periapsis of 1.05 RV against that page's own definition of 1 RV = 6052 km.

   Venus
3. June 24, 1999, 20:29:55 UTC

   Gravity assist

   Second Venus gravity assist

   The launch/orbital information page prints a second Flyby row with Central Body Venus and Closest approach time (UTC) 1999-06-24 20:29:55, and a periapsis of 1.10 RV against that page's own definition of 1 RV = 6052 km. The master catalog dates the pair only to April 1998 and June 1999.

   Venus
4. August 18, 1999, 03:28 UTC

   Gravity assist

   Earth gravity assist

   The launch/orbital information page prints a Flyby row with Central Body Earth and Closest approach time (UTC) 1999-08-18 03:28:00, and a periapsis of 1.18 RE against that page's own definition of 1 RE = 6378 km. Recorded at minute precision because the page prints a whole minute with zero seconds; the master catalog dates it only to August 1999.

   Earth
5. December 2000

   Flyby

   Jupiter flyby

   The master catalog records one flyby of Jupiter (December 2000) and that at Jupiter, numerous simultaneous observations were made using Cassini, Galileo, and the Hubble Space Telescope, among other missions. The launch/orbital information page prints a Flyby row with Central Body Jupiter and a periapsis of 138.00 RJ against its own definition of 1 RJ = 71,398 km, but its Closest approach time (UTC) reads 2000-12-30 00:00:00, the midnight placeholder this catalog does not read as an observed time, so the month the master catalog prints is what this event carries.

   Jupiter
6. 2004

   Orbit insertion

   Cassini began orbiting Saturn

   Saturn
7. December 25, 2004

   Deployment

   Huygens separated for its cruise to Titan

   The NSSDCA master catalog, cited here from a capture fetched on 2026-09-03, records that the first two orbits around Saturn were designed to set up the necessary trajectory for deployment of the Huygens probe on the third orbit, that a maneuver placed the paired spacecraft on an intersect course with Titan and the probe was released on 25 December 2004, and that the two spacecraft separated with a relative velocity of 0.3-0.4 m/s but remained in the same orbit for about three weeks. The event carried 2004-12 at month precision from ESA's factsheet until that page was cited beside it.

   Saturn
8. January 14, 2005

   Landing

   Huygens landed on Titan

   Titan
9. September 15, 2017

   Mission end

   Cassini mission ended at Saturn

   Saturn

Mission architecture

Vehicles

• Cassini Orbiter · Orbiter · completed

  Destinations: Saturn, Titan, Venus, Earth, Jupiter

  • Huygens Probe · Probe · completed

    Destinations: Titan