Space probe proceeds alone

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- A probe once attached to the international Cassini spacecraft was on its own Saturday for the first time, headed on a slow, tumbling course into the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's planet-size moon Titan.
The European Space Agency's Huygens probe carried instruments that may reveal more about the moon's chemistry and whether Titan actually has lakes or seas of liquid methane and ethane that have been theorized by scientists.
Cassini used springs to gently push the 705-pound probe away late Friday at a rate of one foot per second, sending it on a three-week free-fall toward Titan. Cassini will make a course change next week to avoid following the probe into the moon's atmosphere.
The probe's successful launch from Cassini put smiles on the faces of scientists in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
"This was a big one partly because we had to do this right or no mission at all," said David Southwood, the European Space Agency's science program director.
A detailed analysis of the release was under way, but there were no indications of any problems, said Earl Maize, the Cassini deputy program manager at JPL.
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