Oct 3 1997
From The Space Library
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy formally approved the mid-October launch plan of the controversial plutonium-powered Cassini Mission. Critics had subjected to intense scrutiny the exploratory mission to Saturn and its moon Titan, because it used nuclear power. The Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, among other organizations, had protested the mission and attempted to derail it, but had failed to spark widespread public outrage. Activists worried that the rocket might release plutonium if the launch failed, despite NASA's more than a dozen safe launches using the hazardous fuel. The mission required nuclear power because Saturn has extremely dim sunlight not enough to provide adequate solar power to prevent the Cassini spacecraft]]'s instruments from freezing. NASA's policy required that the White House give final approval of the launch, because the mission used nuclear fuel. NASA had begun work on the Cassini Mission in 1989, with cooperation from the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Many regarded the mission the first time a space probe had attempted to land on the moon of another planet -as NASA's boldest and most ambitious endeavor. This aspect of the mission especially interested scientists, who theorized that Titan has an Earth-like atmosphere. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin said of the mission: "I fully expect that it will return spectacular images and scientific data about Saturn."
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