Voyager

Nearly three decades ago, on November 12, 1980 at 3:56 PM PST, the Voyager 1 spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn in mankind's first detailed reconnaissance of that giant planet. One hour and 25 minutes later, the signal from that moment arrived at Earth, while the world waited in awe as picture after picture unfolded on monitors at JPL showing never-before-seen details of the Saturn, its rings and satellites. Voyager remains NASA's most successful planetary mission as measured by total number of scientific discoveries.

Voyager 1 flew under Saturn's south pole, a requirement to get a close look at Titan. Saturn's gravity caused the trajectory to bend northward out of the ecliptic plane, precluding any further planetary encounters. The success of the Titan encounter (hazy though it was), set the stage for Voyager 2 to continue on to Uranus and Neptune. Had Titan not been successful, Voyager 2 would have followed its in the footsteps of its twin, and the Uranus and Neptune encounters would not have been possible.