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BRUCE BUCKINGHAM:  At T-minus two hours and holding, and I have a very special guest with me here
today, Mr. Jim Kennedy, who is our center director

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here at Kennedy Space Center. And Jim, you oversee the activities of what's going on at Kennedy Space Center, but part of what

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we do here is what we're doing today and that's part of the Launch Services Program, right?  Can you tell

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us a little bit about that, please? JIM KENNEDY:  I'd be happy, Bruce.  Let me put it in perspective with the president's Vision for

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Space Exploration.  As you will recall, the president has said that what he wants is a balance of human and robotic exploration of this universe.  And

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what we're all about today is the robotic piece of that exploration, traveling to Pluto on New Horizons for billions of miles, 10 years, more or less,

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to help us understand the universe of which we are a part. And our part of that responsibility for robotic exploration is in the form of a Launch

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Services Program office.  We are, at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA's agent for managing launch services, which is a very complex job.  Steve

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Francois leads that program office for us with hundreds of men and women, government and contractor
alike, to make sure that we are ready to

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launch these precious satellites on their historic journeys. We literally marry the launch vehicle, provided by the Lockheeds in the case of today or

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Boeing in the case of the Delta fleet, and Orbital Sciences provide some different launch vehicles.
But our people do the necessary mission

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analysis, the very complex mission integration of vehicle to satellite--a very complex job, but one that we've done well for many years now.

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And if you have time, I will throw in a couple specific successes. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM:  Please do, and we'd be glad to hear them.

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JIM KENNEDY:  I'd be happy to.  I've only been in my current job for two-and-a-half years, but I
will tell you, to watch the men and women perform

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the magic of space exploration has just really been inspirational to me. It was two years ago, almost exactly, that we

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landed Spirit and then Opportunity on the surface of Mars. Spacecraft that were intended to roam the surface for 90 days, and here we are in the

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second-year anniversary. That's a credit to the people of JPL, the contractors that developed Spirit and Opportunity, and our people and the launch

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vehicle providers that have got them there.  So those are just two examples. MESSENGER, another Applied Physics Lab payload, launched

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a little over a year ago to the other end of our solar system to the planet Mercury, and it's en route
as we speak.  Deep Impact, on this past fourth of July,

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impacted as it was scheduled to do with the comet Tempel 1 and helps us understand all about
the genesis of this universe of ours.

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And then later on today at 1:24, we're going to have another historic mission with Pluto New Horizons starting its nine-and-a-half year trek across the solar

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system. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM:  Well, that's a long trip, of course.  And I understand that you've got a
special item that's going to be riding on this New

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Horizons spacecraft.  What do you have? JIM KENNEDY:  I am so happy that you asked. In fact, I'll hold up an example of that item right

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here. This is the Florida quarter, which was rolled out at the Kennedy Space Center by the governor himself a couple of years ago.  And prominently

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inscribed on all of the Florida quarters are the words "Gateway to Discovery."  It has an image of the shuttle, an image of an old Spanish galleon,

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recognizing that Florida (since its inception) has been all about exploration and discovery. I mentioned that to Alan Stern on the way up

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visit the governor two months ago and Alan was sharp enough to say "You know, if the governor would like,
we can fly one of his quarters on Pluto New

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Horizons." We offered it to the governor.  I will tell you that he was elated with the offer, jumped out of his
seat, got a roll of quarters, gave them to

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Alan and one is now permanently affixed to the Pluto New Horizons and one is permanently affixed in my

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pocket.  This came out of the roll that the governor gave Alan.  I cherish that and will always have it
on me. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM:  That's terrific, sir.

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And we appreciate what the team is doing here and, so far, everything looks good today. The weather's going to cooperate;

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we don't have any technical issues that we're working out now.  So good luck to you and your team. JIM KENNEDY:  Thanks, Bruce.  I think all

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systems are go and we're excited about it. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM:  Yes, sir.  Thank you. JIM KENNEDY:  Thank you.

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BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: And we're back, with

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activity still continuing on schedule as just mentioned, at T-minus two hours and holding.  This is Atlas Launch Control.

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