Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 05:50:42 -0400
 
26 may 1996 (Reuter) - About 100 people gathered on Sunday at
the gates of Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida in a
peaceful protest against NASA's plans to launch the
nuclear-powered space probe Cassini to the planet Saturn. The
protesters said the Cassini probe would scatter plutonium over
a wide area of Florida and kill thousands of people if its
rocket exploded during  launch. They said millions could be
effected worldwide if the probe plunged into the atmosphere
when it passes close to the Earth during its seven-year voyage
to Saturn. The $3.4 billion Cassini spacecraft is scheduled
for launch from Cape Canaveral in October 1997 atop a Titan 4.