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
here at Kennedy Space Center. And Jim, you oversee the activities of what's going on at Kennedy Space Center, but part of what
we do here is what we're doing today and that's part of the Launch Services Program, right? Can you tell
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
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
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,
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
Services Program office. We are, at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA's agent for managing launch services, which is a very complex job. Steve
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
launch these precious satellites on their historic journeys. We literally marry the launch vehicle, provided by the Lockheeds in the case of today or
Boeing in the case of the Delta fleet, and Orbital Sciences provide some different launch vehicles. But our people do the necessary mission
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.
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.
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
the magic of space exploration has just really been inspirational to me. It was two years ago, almost exactly, that we
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
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
vehicle providers that have got them there. So those are just two examples. MESSENGER, another Applied Physics Lab payload, launched
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,
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.
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
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
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
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
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,
recognizing that Florida (since its inception) has been all about exploration and discovery. I mentioned that to Alan Stern on the way up
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
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
Alan and one is now permanently affixed to the Pluto New Horizons and one is permanently affixed in my
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.
And we appreciate what the team is doing here and, so far, everything looks good today. The weather's going to cooperate;
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
systems are go and we're excited about it. BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: Yes, sir. Thank you. JIM KENNEDY: Thank you.
BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: And we're back, with
activity still continuing on schedule as just mentioned, at T-minus two hours and holding. This is Atlas Launch Control.