Europe reaches new frontier – Huygens lands on Titan

14 January 2005

ESA PR 03-2005. Today, after its seven-year journey through the Solar System on board the Cassini spacecraft, ESA’s Huygens probe has successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and safely landed on its surface.
The first scientific data arrived at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, this afternoon at 17:19 CET. Huygens is mankind’s first successful attempt to land a probe on another a world in the outer Solar System.
“This is a great achievement for Europe and its US partners in this ambitious international endeavour to explore the Saturnian system,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General.