Illustration of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. The Cassini-Huygens mission was a joint project between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the ESA (European Space Agency) and the ASI (Italian Space Agency). It was launched from Earth in 1997 took 7 years to reach Saturn and its moons. The Huygens probe separated from Cassini on 25th December 2004, and descended to the surface of Saturns largest moon, Titan, in early 2005. The Cassini orbiter then continued on to Saturn itself.