On December 25, 2004, the Huygens probe began its three week coast to SaturnÂ’'s largest moon. Then, on January 14, 2005, the descent to TitanÂ’'s surface began. 2 hours later, Huygens gently landed on the alien surface; the first human artifact to land on the moon of another planet.
In this animation, notice how the Huygens probe is released from Cassini as it approaches the moon Iapetus. Huygens then flies close to Cassini on its way to Titan, where it descends into its atmosphere.
Click here to illustrate Huygens' descent to Titan.
Following a close fly-by of Saturn's moon TItan, Cassini will dive for 22 consecutive weeks between Saturn and its rings (from April to September 2017). On its final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere, beaming back scientific data right until the end.