Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Cassini Huygens mission began its life in 1982 when a working group formed between the European Science Foundation and the American National Academy of Sciences. The mission ended with a dive into Saturn's atmosphere on the 15th of September 2017.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed the mission where the orbiter was assembled. The European Space Research and Technology Centre developed Huygens with Aérospatiale of France assembling the probe.
Radar images obtained on the 21st of July 2006 appeared to show lakes of liquid hydrocarbon such as methane and ethane in Titan's northern latitudes. This is the first discovery of currently existing lakes anywhere besides on Earth.
The U.S. government approved the Grand Finale at the cost of $200 million in late 2014. This amount was far cheaper than building two new probes in separate Discovery-class missions.
Cassini achieved orbit after a seven-year voyage on the 1st of July 2004. It was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.