Saturn-Orbiting Spacecraft Clears the Sun, is Doing Fine

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft emerged from behind the sun Monday and was found to be operating normally, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

The sun had been between Cassini and the Earth since July 5.

Only limited science work was done during the period, and communications were limited to brief tests of the spacecraft’s ability to receive commands when the signal path is close to the sun.

Cassini entered orbit around Saturn on June 30 after a 2.2 billion-mile journey that took nearly seven years.