A picture of the Cassini probe before launch
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Image courtesy of NASA

Cassini Probe Burning for Venus
News story originally written on December 2, 1998

The Cassini spacecraft will fire its engine tonight for a major course correction. The maneuver will begin December 2nd at 10:00 p.m. PST (December 3rd at 0600 GMT). You will be able to see Cassini's speed change live while the engine burns. Just follow the link from the Cassini Mission Homepage.

The spacecraft will fire its engine to slow its speed by 452 m/s. This will allow Cassini to pass near Venus for a gravity assist on its way to Saturn.

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