Probe to Pluto

taken from: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060119_pluto_nh_launch.html


NASA sent their first probe bound toward Pluto on thursday, two days later than expected because of bad weather.

A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket flung the New Horizons spacecraft spaceward at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time sending the probe speeding away from Earth at about 36,250 miles per hour, the fastest ever for a NASA mission. The probe should pass the Moon at 11:00 EST on January 20th for a nine-year trek towards Pluto.

Initail reports show that the probe is in good health. Ground stations got their first signal at around 2.50 EST. this showed that the spacecrafts radioisotope thermoelectric generator is online and preforming as expected. the vehicle is currently where it needs to be.

This probe is scheduled to come back to earth on July 14, 2015. The initial launch was delayed because winds were to strong at the launch pad. On a later day severe storms over Maryland knocked out the power, forcing them again to reschedule yet again. The probe was finally launched at 2:00 on january 20th.