Visit to a Large Planet

A thousand rings round Saturn, icy moons and lakes of liquid nitrogen

"To think that no other person from Earth has ever seen Saturn and its rings so close!" Wilma said. "I wonder what Titan will be like?" "Well," Buck replied, "it won't be long now."

Last week, while earthlings nearly a billion miles away marveled as they monitored its progress, an all-seeing but unmanned spacecraft no larger than a compact car completed the final and most spectacular phase of an epochal journey. Beating Buck Rogers and the faithful Wilma, sci-fi heroes of...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!