By Marcia Dunn
AP Aerospace Writer 

Last adventure ahead for NASA's Cassini spacecraft at Saturn

 

April 21, 2017



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's Cassini spacecraft faces one last perilous adventure around Saturn.

Cassini swings past Saturn's mega moon Titan early Saturday for a gravity-assisted, orbit-tweaking nudge.

"That last kiss goodbye," as project manager Earl Maize calls it, will push Cassini onto a path no spacecraft has gone before — into the gap between Saturn and its rings. It's treacherous territory. A particle from the rings — even as small as a speck of sand — could cripple Cassini, given its velocity.

Cassini will make its first pass through the relatively narrow gap Wednesday. Twenty-t...



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