About 35 minutes ago, the Cassini spacecraft transmitted an initial burst of data from its high gain antenna back to Earth.

The Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan transitioned just as planned from an engineering mission to a science mission this evening. A hush fell over mission control, broken by occasional comments, as everyone returned to stations to await the expected transmission from Cassini. Then, right on schedule, the expected radio carrier and confirmation. The staff was visibly elated – this is the first spacecraft ever to orbit the sixth planet from the sun. Congratulations to the entire team! This is a momentous accomplishment.

Read more about Cassini-Huygens and the latest mission news at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site.