KSC-05pd-0506

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Representatives of NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto discuss the mission during a press briefing on the Draft environmental Impact Statement at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. From left are Orlando Figueroa, deputy association administrator for Programs, Science Mission Directorate; Earl Wahlquist, associate director for Space and Defense Power Systems, Department of Energy, in Germantown, Md.; Kurt Lindstrom, New Horizons Program executive, with NASA; Hal Weaver, New Horizons Project scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.; and Glen Fountain, New Horizons Project manager, also with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The spacecraft will explore Pluto, its moon Charon, and possibly one or more objects within the Kuiper Belt. New Horizons is planned for launch during a window from Jan. 11 to Feb. 14, 2006, on an Atlas V 551 booster with a Star 48B third stage. It will proceed to a Jupiter gravity assist between Feb. 25 and March 2, 2007, if launched during the first 23 days of the launch window. (If it is launched during the last 12 days of the launch window it will have a direct-to-Pluto trajectory. There is a backup launch opportunity in February 2007.)