Are you talking about Huygens? That was launched on a Titan IV in 1997(!) and landed in 2005!
In 1997, the EU was a global economic and scientific powerhouse. We're talking about the ossification in the last 15-20 years that has not only allowed the US to leapfrog Europe as the largest economy, but China too.
You are bordering on delusional with these comments.
Was that literally you who complained that Galileo was too new? Is Huygens too old now? Well take your pick:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:European_Space_Agency...
too new? what?
It took too long. around 10-15 years too long.
and that probe is older than quite a big portion of HN users.