The joint mission aimed to conduct in-depth studies of Saturn, its complex ring system, its magnetic environment, and deploy a lander onto its largest moon, Titan.

It was a historic international collaboration primarily between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

The ESA-built Huygens probe successfully touched down on Titan's surface on January 14, 2005, marking the first landing in the outer solar system.

It remains the most distant landing ever accomplished on another world and the only soft landing on a moon other than Earth's moon.

After arriving in orbit in July 2004, Cassini spent 13 years examining the Saturnian system before concluding its mission in September 2017.

Cassini discovered active geysers shooting salty water vapor and organic molecules from a subsurface global ocean through cracks in the icy crust of Enceladus.

On September 15, 2017, Cassini executed its "Grand Finale" plunge into Saturn's upper atmosphere, intentionally burning up to prevent biological contamination of Titan or Enceladus.

Data and images showed a nitrogen-rich, hazy atmosphere with surface features carved by liquid methane channels, resembling a cryogenic version of early Earth.

Launched in October 1997, the spacecraft used four gravity-assist flybys—twice at Venus, once at Earth, and once at Jupiter—to gain the velocity needed to reach Saturn.

The orbiter was named after Italian-French astronomer Giovanni Cassini (discoverer of Saturn's ring gaps) and the probe after Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens (discoverer of Titan).