July 2, 2015 The Wait Is Almost Over as New Horizons Approaches Pluto

The Wait
The wait to experience the thrill of science and exploration through New Horizons is almost over.

View video on NASA’s YouTube channel

“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question,” said the poet e.e. cummings. Seeing is believing, and 3 billion miles away, the New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on Pluto and NASA’s next beautiful answer.

“One of my fondest hopes for the flyby, apart from the great science we’ll do, is that people across the world will join in to experience the thrill of science and exploration through New Horizons,” says Alan Stern, New Horizons mission principal investigator, from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “I see folks from every walk of life excited about the power of exploration, the sheer audacity of our species and the great things we can achieve. The historic nature of New Horizons and the first exploration of Pluto is catching on with people of all ages, from some who weren’t even born when we launched, to college kids, to their parents and grandparents!”

To help build the excitement that will allow New Horizons to impact even more people, the mission produced a video about the flyby called The Wait, available for viewing on NASA’s YouTube channel. The title alludes to the nine-year, 3-billion mile journey, but also to how exciting it is waiting for anything new.

“There’s only one Pluto flyby planned in all of history, and it’s happening in two short weeks. We want to get the word out, so please share this movie with all your friends, family, and followers. Talk about the mission and what it means for the human race,” says Stern.

“New Horizons set out to explore a new kind of planet in our solar system, and a newly discovered zone of objects called the Kuiper Belt — the third zone of our solar system,” says New Horizons Deputy Project Scientist Cathy Olkin, of SwRI. “Come along, take part, whether on the web or on TV, or by throwing a ‘Plutopalooza’ party of your own. Get involved. There’s only one time we’ll first explore Pluto, and it’s an opportunity for you to see this country on its game, making history!”

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.