For the first time ever, a spacecraft has made it between Saturn and its rings, and NASA has released images of its view.

The Cassini spacecraft, nearly at the end of a groundbreaking mission that started nearly two decades ago, snapped pictures after a narrow dive through the rings of Saturn, according to a NASA report. The raw images were uploaded directly to a NASA website, and even though they lack captions, the photos show us Saturn like few have seen before.

"In the grandest tradition of exploration, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has once again blazed a trail, showing us new wonders and demonstrating where our curiosity can take us if we dare," Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters, said in the report.

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Cassini made a narrow dive through a gap in Saturn's rings and came as close to the planet's cloud tops as about 1,900 miles, according to the report. Mission managers were extra careful with the dive plans because this was the first time they've explored the region, the report added.

"No spacecraft has ever been this close to Saturn before. We could only rely on predictions, based on our experience with Saturn's other rings, of what we thought this gap between the rings and Saturn would be like," Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the report. "I am delighted to report that Cassini shot through the gap just as we planned and has come out the other side in excellent shape."

The 77,000-mph dive was the only way these images were possible, and NASA said Cassini will perform another similar dive on May 2. It's expected to orbit Saturn once a week and make 22 more dives through the rings before the mission ends Sept. 15, when it will be intentionally crashed into the planet.

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