To celebrate New Horizons' successful launch, participating scientist Henry Throop decorated his freshly shaven head with a realistic Pluto map (artwork provided by deputy project scientist Leslie Young). Charon orbits to scale beside Throop's head. Dan Durda
Get Articles like this sent to your inbox
Thanks to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, we're about to see Pluto up close for the first time. Here are a few snapshots of the scientists and engineers who'll make it possible.
After a 9½-year, 4½-billion-mile journey, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on the threshold of its historic encounter with Pluto and its moons. The spacecraft will be its closest to Pluto, just 12,500 km (7,800 miles) away, at 11:49:58 Universal Time on July 14th.
Emily Lakdawalla's 8-page preview article in the July issue provides all the info you'll need to prepare for the flyby, and don't forget to read principal investigator Alan Stern's exclusive commentaries on the mission for SkyandTelescope.com.
Of course, it's taken hundreds of scientists and engineers to get New Horizons to its destination, and we thought you might enjoy seeing a few snapshots of them hard at work. If you want to see more images about the New Horizons mission, Pluto, and related topics, visit Pluto Picture of the Day.
A technician installs a compact disc, containing the names of 434,738 people who signed up to send their names to Pluto, onto the exterior of the New Horizons spacecraft. NASA / JHU-APL / Southwest Research Inst.
Mark Showalter, New Horizons science team member and discoverer of Pluto's moons Styx and Kerberos, checks out some data in 2011. Project scientist Hal Weaver is in the background. John Spencer
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.