Cassini visits Earth

mwillis writes " Between 8:22 PM PDT and 8:51 PM PDT on August 17, Cassini swung by earth for a gravity assist, coming about 725 miles from the Earth's surface. It still needs a Jupiter flyby before reaching its target, Saturn. Video and mission status here " /sarcasm And, despite fears to the contrary, Cassini didn't smash into the planet and spread 75 pounds of Plutonium across the surface of the planet.