New Horizons: Nine Mementos Headed to Pluto
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:15:20 -0700 (PDT)
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/piPerspective.php?page=piPerspective_10_23_2008
The PI's Perspective
Nine Mementos Headed to the Ninth Planet
Alan Stern
October 23, 2008
(PI's note: For this installment of the PI Perspective, I wanted to
share with you my remarks from a ceremony on Oct. 17, during which we
"inducted" the New Horizons model into the Smithsonian National Air
and
Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, and celebrated the mission's
accomplishments since launch. It was also the first time we revealed
publicly the full set of commemorative items on New Horizons. - Alan
Stern)
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here tonight. And it's amazing to
think
that New Horizons itself is more than a billion miles off and happily
speeding another million more miles toward the frontier every day.
I don't know how many of you know this, but New Horizons is now
farther
from Earth than all but two operating spacecraft - NASA's Voyagers 1
and
2, which pioneered the deep outer solar system, but left planet Pluto
and the Kuiper Belt unexplored. And you might not know this either -
the
U.S. did not launch a mission to reconnoiter a new planet from
Voyager's
launch in 1977 until we launched in 2006. And when we crossed the
orbit
of Saturn this summer, it had been 27 years since the last spacecraft
to
venture that far (Voyager 2) passed Saturn. Well, our little
spacecraft
is putting NASA and the U.S. back in the pioneering exploration
business
in the 21st century.
This day has been a long time coming - we're now 1,002 days into our
flight, we've been a project team now for almost eight years, and it
has
been over 19 years since a few of us first discussed doing a Pluto
mission with NASA.
I recall, just as we were getting the first Pluto mission studies
done,
a 1990 article about an early Pluto mission concept called Pluto 350,
which was planned - as we are - for arrival in 2015. And I also recall
my comment in that article about my little 2-year-old daughter, Sarah,
and how far off 2015 would be, and how old she would be - 28 that
year,
and how I could hardly imagine such a far off future! Well, it's not
so
far off now - Sarah turned 21 today, Oct. 17, 2008. By that measure,
2015 seems almost right around the corner!
You know, thousands of Americans helped design, build, test and launch
New Horizons. Many of you here tonight are among them. Thank you all,
from the bottom of my proud heart, and thank you on behalf of the New
Horizons science team, the planetary science community of this
country,
and for all the Americans and citizens of the world who you inspired
with the audacity to build a spaceship to open new frontiers, to turn
heads, and - just think about this - to fly among the stars and
literally outlive the Earth itself.
Now it is my privilege to announce something special about New
Horizons
- something we said we would save for a special occasion. Today we're
announcing the nine mementos that are flying with New Horizons to
Pluto
and the Kuiper Belt frontier. Why nine mementos? I bet you can guess.
Here's the list:
1. A portion of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh's ashes and an
inscription
2. The "Send Your Name to Pluto" CD-ROM with more than 434,000
names
of people who wanted to participate in this great journey of
exploration
3. A CD-ROM with project personnel pictures
4. A Florida state quarter, for the state New Horizons was launched
from
5. A Maryland state quarter, for the state New Horizons was built
in
6. A cutout piece of the historic SpaceShip One and an inscription
7. U.S. Flag 1
8. U.S. Flag 2
9. The 1991 U.S. stamp proclaiming, "Pluto: Not Yet Explored"
And here are some pictures of some of those mementos on New Horizons:
A small container of Clyde
Tombaugh's ashes is affixed to the inside, upper deck of the
spacecraft,
with the inscription: "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde
W.
Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system's 'third zone'
Adelle
and Muron's boy, Patricia's husband, Annette and Alden's father,
astronomer, teacher, punster, and friend: Clyde W. Tombaugh
(1906-1997)."
Technicians affix the CD containing 434,738 names - all on the way to
Pluto!
A compact disc on the other side of the spacecraft contains images of
New Horizons project personnel.
The Florida quarter, just
before its placement on New Horizons. The spacecraft also holds a
Maryland commemorative quarter.
A small piece of SpaceShip
One is installed on New Horizons' lower inside deck, with a two-sided
inscription. Front: "To commemorate its historic role in the
advancement
of spaceflight, this piece of SpaceShip One is being flown on another
historic spacecraft: New Horizons. New Horizons is Earth's first
mission
to Pluto, the farthest known planet in our solar system." Back:
"SpaceShip One was Earth's first privately funded manned spacecraft.
SpaceShip One flew from the United States of America in 2004."
We thought it would be great
to have this stamp fly past Pluto while its message becomes obsolete!
Finally, I'll close by saying that when we've completed the first
reconnaissance of Pluto in summer 2015, we plan to petition the U.S.
Postal Service to issue a new stamp for Pluto, maybe something like
this:
<piPerspectives/images/20081022_09_lg.jpg>
I knew you would like that! Thank you and good night.
- Alan Stern
.
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