Editing Cassini–Huygens (section)

=== Orbiting Saturn ===
[[File:Saturn during Equinox.jpg|thumb|upright=1.364|left|Saturn reached equinox in 2008, shortly after the end of the prime mission.]]
On July 1, 2004, the spacecraft flew through the gap between the [[Rings of Saturn|F and G rings]] and achieved [[orbit]], after a seven-year voyage.<ref name=Porco_2007/> It was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.

The Saturn Orbital Insertion (SOI) maneuver performed by ''Cassini'' was complex, requiring the craft to orient its High-Gain Antenna away from Earth and along its flight path, to shield its instruments from particles in Saturn's rings. Once the craft crossed the ring plane, it had to rotate again to point its engine along its flight path, and then the engine fired to decelerate the craft by 622&nbsp;m/s to allow Saturn to capture it.<ref name=Doody_2003/> ''Cassini'' was captured by Saturn's gravity at around 8:54&nbsp;pm [[Pacific Daylight Time]] on June 30, 2004. During the maneuver ''Cassini'' passed within {{convert|20000|km|mi|abbr=on}} of Saturn's cloud tops.

When Cassini was in Saturnian orbit, departure from the Saturn system was evaluated in 2008 during end of mission planning.<ref name=spilker/>{{clarify|date=February 2016}}