NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft is in good health and on track for its gravity assist at Jupiter.

When New Horizons makes its closest approach to Jupiter during the night of Feb. 27-28, the robotic probe will be out of contact with Earth, busily gathering data on the giant planet, its moons and magnetosphere. The New Horizons mission operations team will re-establish communications with the spacecraft and check its post-flyby condition midday on Feb. 28.

Reporters are invited to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., to watch operators contact the spacecraft from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

Members of the New Horizons operations and science teams will be available to discuss the mission and Jupiter flyby activities. Space is limited and registration is required. Reporters interested in attending should contact M. Buckley at (443) 778-7536 or web-NewHorizonsPublicAffairs-contact@jhuapl.edu by Feb. 27, 2007.

APL designed, built and operates New Horizons, which is using the pull of Jupiter's gravity to speed its journey to Pluto. Mission team members at APL, the Southwest Research Institute and other locations are also using the Jupiter flyby to test the spacecraft's science instruments and provide new looks at the Jovian system, making more than 700 separate observations from January through June 2007. Much of the science data from close approach will be sent back to Earth in March, though some images will be transmitted and made available on the New Horizons and NASA Web sites in the coming week.

Visit http://pluto.jhuapl.edu for the latest images from Jupiter and mission status reports.

Back to Media Events