A European probe that holds the record for making the most distant landing from Earth; it was also humanity’s first landing on a moon in the outer Solar System. Part of the Cassini mission to Saturn, Huygens was launched attached to Cassini on 15 October 1997 and was released on 25 December 2004. On 14 January 2005 it descended to the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, transmitting for nearly two and a half hours during the descent through Titan's atmosphere and then for over an hour on the surface. During its descent, Huygens measured wind speeds and atmospheric gases and photographed apparent drainage channels caused by liquid methane and bright islands on darker plains. It landed on a slushy area dotted with boulders composed of water ice, under orange clouds composed of complex hydrocarbons.