Intro music.
Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining NASA Direct's exciting prelaunch coverage of New Horizons. I'm your host, Tiffany Nail.
Today, we'll hear from the scientists who have been instrumental in designing and developing the New Horizons mission and spacecraft.
They'll describe the excitement they felt and challenges they faced getting this mission from the drawing board to launch pad.
In addition, NASA Launch Manager Omar Baez is here to show us how the Atlas V launch vehicle was prepared for flight.
Will there be clear skies for the Atlas V journey into space? Weather officer Joel Tumbiolo has the launch day forecast.
But before we get to all of that, a word from Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy.
Hello, I'm Jim Kennedy, director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and welcome to the New Horizons Webcast.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will be the first to visit Pluto, its moon Charon, and the Kuiper Belt at the very edge of our solar system.
The nine-and-a-half-year journey begins at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, where the spacecraft will
be launched aboard a powerful Atlas V rocket. Receiving a gravity assist from Jupiter in the year 2007, New Horizons will
reach the Pluto and Charon frontier in 2015 to conduct fly-by studies during its six-month encounter.
Set to travel to the Kuiper Belt on an extended mission, the spacecraft will explore this mysterious and unknown region,
enhancing our understanding of the creation and evolution of our solar system.
Thank you for joining us as we learn more about the science and the people involved in this historic mission to Pluto and beyond.
Thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for that warm welcome.