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The Pluto New
Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to launch on an Atlas V rocket in
January 2006. Designed to help us understand worlds at the edge of our
solar system, New Horizons will make the first reconnaissance of Pluto
and its multiple moons. In addition to observing the last planet in
our solar system to be visited by spacecraft, the mission will also
visit one or more objects in the Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune. To
reach its intended destination, the spacecraft will first swing past
Jupiter for a gravity boost, conduct related scientific studies
through February or March 2007 and eventually reach Pluto by July
2015. |
