KSC-04pd1336

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Reporters (left) take notes during an informal briefing concerning NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, launched aboard an Air Force Titan IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Oct. 15, 1997. Cassini launch team members at right discussed the challenge and experience of preparing Cassini for launch, integrating it with the Titan IV rocket and the countdown events of launch day. From left are Ron Gillett, NASA Safety and Lead Federal Agency official; Omar Baez, mechanical and propulsion systems engineer; Ray Lugo, NASA launch manager; Chuck Dovale, chief, Avionics Branch; George Haddad, Integration and Ground Systems mechanical engineer; and Ken Carr, Cassini assistant launch site support manager. Approximately 10:36 p.m. EDT, June 30, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will arrive at Saturn. After nearly a seven-year journey, it will be the first mission to orbit Saturn. The international cooperative mission plans a four-year tour of Saturn, its rings, icy moons, magnetosphere, and Titan, the planet’s largest moon.