PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

Contact:  Mary Beth Murrill, (818) 354-6478               

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                         December 18, 1995

A NEW SPACECRAFT COMES TO LIFE

     In the midst of the excitement surrounding the arrival of 
the Galileo spacecraft at Jupiter, technicians and engineers 
presided over the birth of a new spacecraft, in a white-walled 
clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.

     The Cassini spacecraft, bound for a launch to Saturn in 
1997,  was successfully "powered on" for the first time last week 
as its cousin spacecraft Galileo began its historic mission at 
Jupiter.   Cassini is scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral, 
FL, on October 6, 1997 and will reach Saturn in July 2004.

     "This is the first time the major elements of the spacecraft 
have been electrically linked together, and it all worked," said 
Richard J. Spehalski, Cassini program manager at JPL.   
     
     Support equipment supplied the 30 volts of electricity on 
which the spacecraft and its science instruments will operate.  
No problems were found as the power flowed through the seven 
miles of cabling that will link Cassini's computers, science 
instruments and mechanical and propulsion systems.

     Cassini, a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency 
(ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), is similar in concept 
to the Galileo mission.  Cassini will send a parachuted probe, 
called Huygens, into the atmosphere and to the surface of 
Saturn's large moon Titan.  The main Cassini spacecraft will 
orbit Saturn to provide four years of close-up data on the moons, 
rings, planet and Saturn's magnetic environment.  Huygens is 
provided by ESA, and Cassini's sophisicated radio antenna is 
provided by ASI.  The Cassini program is managed by JPL.

     Assembly and testing of the spacecraft will continue at JPL 
through mid-1997 when the spacecraft will be shipped to Cape 
Canaveral, FL, for launch preparations.

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12-18-95 MBM
#9588