Hundreds of scientists and engineers from 14 European countries and 32 states of the United States make up the team designing, fabricating and flying the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

Launched in October 1997 on a Titan IV-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Cassini will first execute two gravity- assist flybys of Venus, then one each of the Earth and Jupiter to send it on to arrive at Saturn in June 2004.
Upon reaching Saturn, Cassini will swing close to the planet — to an altitude only one-sixth the diameter of Saturn itself — to begin the first of some five dozen orbits during the rest of its four-year mission.
In late 2004, Cassini will release the European-built Huygens probe for its descent of up to two and a half hours through Titan’s dense atmosphere. The instrument-laden probe will beam its findings to the Cassini orbiter to be stored and finally relayed to Earth. More info urbanistas