Cassini was a joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).
It was a robotic spacecraft orbiting Saturn and studying the Saturnian system in detail.
It also carried a probe called Huygens, which parachuted to the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005 and returned results.
Cassini completed its initial four-year mission to explore the Saturn System in June 2008, and the first extension, called the Cassini Equinox Mission, in September 2010.
On Sept. 15, 2017, the spacecraft made its final approach to Saturn.
Cassini dived into the planet's atmosphere, sending science data for as long as its small thrusters could keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth. Soon after, Cassini burned up and disintegrated like a meteor.