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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