Workers take off the protective covering on the propulsion module for the Cassini spacecraft after uncrating the module.

Workers take off the protective covering on the propulsion module for the Cassini spacecraft after uncrating the module at KSC's Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2). The extended journey of 6.7 years to Saturn and the 4-year mission for Cassini once it gets there will require the spacecraft to carry a large amount of propellant for inflight trajectory-correction maneuvers and attitude control, particularly during the science observations. The propulsion module has redundant 445-newton main engines that burn nitrogen tetraoxide and monomethyl-hydrazine for main propulsion and 16 smaller 1-newton engines that burn hydrazine to control attitude and to correct small deviations from the spacecraft flight path. Cassini will be launched on a Titan IVB/Centaur expendable launch vehicle. Liftoff is targeted for October 6 from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Station