I just watched the Pluto probe launch. The view fromthe gulf coast was not that impressive. Basically, a thin little contrail with not even a bright light at the top. I wish now that I had stayed inside and watched it on my bosses TV.
I’ll bump this thread when the probe gets to Pluto.
See you in 9 years.
CNN pipeline carried all of the NASA feeds and is was great. Now it’s well into the upper atmosphere and they are showing telemetry imaging.
And it’s not supposed to get there until 2015?
Waitaminnit. That is nine years. Ack.
For some reason my 5 year old has become absolutely fascinated with the planets, memorizing not just the order but excruciating details about each and every one. We talked last night about how she’ll be 14 when this probe gets there and a good bit older before it reaches the 10th one. I think I’ll take her picture holding the newspaper with this article. It’ll be a nice reference when we’re reading about it’s arrival.
Heh.
I set a reminder on my calendar to check in on the mission around the time of the gravity assist at Jupiter in 2007.
I salute my fellow space nerds. 
I forget exactly, but isn’t this probe going to reach the moon in something like 9 hours instead of the three days it took apollo missions? This sucker is FAST.
Hypno-toad: are you an alien? from the tittle of your post it sounds like your expecting a visit from the probe.
Have i just discovered your secret?
Will i now be subject to martian mind control?
Will the world ever be the same again?
I got to watch it in my boss’s office. She and her deputy each worked on the Atlas V program during their mid-grade officer years, and when the booster jumped off the pad, she said “Holy shit! Look at that thing jump. Go, go, goooo!” Apparently with such a small payload and five strap-on solid boosters, the Atlas doesn’t mess around. It was also cool that she knew most of the guys in the control room and knew who had their lucky ties on.
FWWOOOOOOOOSH!
Is there any footage online of the takeoff? All I can find are still shots.
Well, I said I’d revive this thread in 9 years, so here we are. The New Horizons probe is due to reach Pluto in about two months. It could have been there sooner, but the section from Jupiter to Pluto was routed through Atlanta. Here’s some of the latest news about Plutos five moons.
The probe that was launched towards a planet and arrived at a dwarf planet?
Huh, Pluto has five moons, didn’t know that.
I’m curious if it’s possible that Pluto and it’s family were evicted from the Neptunian system, as it does interesect Neptune’s orbit of the sun and is on a different plane, off from the other planetary orbits. Could it be it hasn’t settled into a compliant orbit around the sun yet due to an impact or gravitational push from Triton, Neptune’s relatively new and backward orbiting moon?
How many moons where there at the time of launch?
Was Pluto still a planet back then?
I’ve been looking forward to this - very excited!
Well, the same number there are now, but we only knew about Charon, Nix, and Hydra. 
Styx and Kerberos were discovered in 2012 and 2011, respectively. ETA: Nix and Hydra were both discovered in 2005, a year before New Horizons launched, but well after the funding for the probe was allocated.
New Horizons was launched in January of 2006 and Pluto was reclassified in September of 2006.
As new news comes along will you post it here or start new threads? In other words, is it time to bookmark this?
Feel free to update this thread with whatever New Horizons news you find. After nine years, this thread has arisen and craves new posts.
Evicted from the Neptunian system? Did it fail to pay the rent?
Good thing it wasn’t eliminated from the Uranian system.
Getting closer. Only 34 million miles away.