- [Announcer] System,
this is ACS One,
we've just had transition
to high rate mode,
and we are in the atmosphere.
[loud, dramatic zoom]
- [Todd Barber] Radio signal
is still holding, 30 seconds.
- [announce Spacecraft
has just crossed
10 degrees north latitude,
altitude 1,000 miles.
- [Controller] Copy, thank you.
- [Julie Webster] OK, we call
loss of signal at 1-1-5-5-4-6
[drum roll]
>> Earl Maize: You
just heard the signal
from the spacecraft is gone
and within the next 45 seconds
so will be the spacecraft.
I hope you're all
as deeply proud
of this amazing accomplishment.
Congratulations to you all.
This has been an
incredible mission,
an incredible spacecraft,
and you're all an
incredible team.
I'm going to call this
the end of mission.
Project Manager off the net.
[applause]
[dramatic orchestral music]
- Well we're here to discuss
a magnificent mission
that had an amazing end.
There it is.
This is Cassini.
Next picture.
This is also Cassini.
Yes.
[applauding]
- When I look back over
the Cassini mission,
I see a mission that was running
a 13-year-marathon of
scientific discovery.
And this last orbit
was just the last lap.
So we stood in celebration
of successfully
completing the race.
This is the view in the
infrared at five microns.
You can see the heat energy
coming out of Saturn.
This is the place where
Cassini took its final plunge.
- It's not an end but
really a beginning.
The discoveries that
Cassini has made
over the past 13 years in orbit
have rewritten the
textbooks of Saturn,
have discovered worlds
that could be habitable,
and have guaranteed that we'll
return to that ringed world.
[dramatic orchestral music]
Text: Cassini's final image
