spacecraft

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft mission was first conceptualized in 1982, when two European scientists suggested a paired Saturn orbiter and Titan Probe as a possible joint mission with NASA.

Now, it consists of two main elements: the NASA Cassini orbiter, named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, and the ESA Huygens probe, named after the Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens.