KSC-05pd2579

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center, workers in clean room suits begin mating the New Horizons spacecraft with the third stage, or upper booster, a Boeing STAR 48 solid-propellant kick motor. The launch vehicle for New Horizons is the Atlas V rocket, scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., during a 35-day window that opens Jan. 11, and fly through the Pluto system as early as summer 2015.