What if you could fly a spaceship THROUGH the rings of Saturn at 76,000 miles per hour?

The Day Cassini Dove Into Saturn's Rings!

A brave little spacecraft flew closer to Saturn than anything ever before

Cassini spacecraft made history by diving between Saturn and its rings for the first time ever!

On September 7, 2017, something INCREDIBLE happened in space — way, way out near the beautiful ringed planet Saturn! A spacecraft called Cassini was about to begin the most daring adventure of its 20-year journey.

Cassini had been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2004, sending back thousands of amazing photos. But now its fuel was running low, and scientists had a wild idea: let's send it BETWEEN Saturn's rings for one final mission!

On this day, Cassini started what scientists called the 'Grand Finale' — a series of super close passes between Saturn and its innermost rings. Imagine flying through a blizzard of ice crystals at 76,000 miles per hour! That's how fast Cassini was zooming!

No spacecraft had EVER been this close to Saturn before. Scientists back on Earth were on the edge of their seats. Would Cassini make it? Would the tiny ice particles destroy it?

💡 Cassini discovered that Saturn's famous rings might have formed when dinosaurs were still roaming Earth — that's pretty recent in space terms!