Cassini swings past a moon of Saturn

The plutonium-powered spacecraft, which is carrying 12 science instruments and a probe, came within about 1,285 miles of the dark moon Phoebe on Friday, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

The $3.3 billion spacecraft pointed its instruments at the moon, then turned to point its antenna toward Earth. Its data reached Nasa's Deep Space Network on Saturday morning.

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Officials said the spacecraft was operating normally and was in excellent condition.