Alan Stern defends the commercialization of space.

Jeanette Thorn.

Will Grundy indicates that he has no idea.

Leslie Young shows off a classic shirt.

50+ science team personnel mob the lobby of the restaurant soon after our reservation has been cancelled.

Andrew Steffl.

Joe Peterson.

Books are inscribed.

Fran Bagenal finds something terrifically funny.

George.

Stefano Livi.

Pluto suits up in the restroom, soon after his tail has fallen off and been repaired.

Pluto with Cathy Olkin's son Jake. (The costume is actually a Lion King suit combined with a Grinch-dog head. The costume rental people told me that Disney doesn't rent or authorize name-brand Pluto costumes: "It's their nightmare. Look, they don't want Pluto getting drunk, going into the street, and directing traffic...")

Predictions are written.

My bag is searched for plutonium.

The next security agent is less accomodating.

Kennedy Rocket Garden.

Authentic-looking tiles adorn the underbelly of a fake (but full-sized) shuttle mockup at the Kennedy Space Center, a for-profit commercial endeavour run by Delaware North Companies, Inc. courtesy of your tax dollars.

Check out that launch vehicle! New Horizons' Atlas V rocket is standing within the tall white building on the far left. Later in the morning, it's going to move further to the left, next to the white lightning towers. Note the gator in the foreground.

The space shuttle's transporter (`crawler'), next to the vehicle assembly building (VAB).

Ooooo! The launch vehicle rolls out! Check out that swamp-boat in the foreground.

David Grinspoon.

Jane Spencer.

VAB again. Even right next to it, it seems pretty short & squat. But apparently it's 50+ stories high, and 4x the volume of the Empire State Building. Note the discolored wall panels, replaced courtesy of the recent hurricane.

Real people stand in front of a real painting of the Saturn V.

Whoa! It's the actual Saturn V control room, working lights and everything...

Carter Emmart radiates...

Jeff Moore's mom signs autographs.

Jeff and Pam.

Laura Danly.

Carter and David love their main engines.

Bill McKinnon and Kate.

Paul Schenk and David.

McKinnon kids check out those space-shuttle main engines.

Jeff Moore's family squeezes tight.

Nominal launch is Tuesday Jan 17, 13:24 EST. Busses run between KSC and the launch viewing area at the Saturn V site, ~4 miles west of the launch pad. (Personnel running the launch are a mile or so closer, but since they're stuck inside a concrete bunker with no windows, we have a much better view.)

Pad is straight across the water, near the center.

Don and Jeannie Jennings.

Barbie loves launches!

Brad Perry's daughter Ashley has spent the last 5 years of her life posing with this sign.

Check out those packed stands! Bottom: Julie, Peter Tamblyn, Rosaly Lopez, Jane/John/Fran Spencer. Top: Marteen Versteeg, Diane Miller, Billy Merline, Normster Heinen, Jeanette Thorn.

Ann Harch!

Hal Weaver...

Will Grundy's brother Tom, with parents...

We are waiting for a 6 minute period of sub-33 knot ground winds in order to launch. Launch has been postponed: 1324 EST, 1344, 1404, 1424, 1444, in 20-minute intervals, corresponding to the cadence time of NASA's weather balloons.

An unanticipated problem: what to do with the kids of 1400+ people watching the launch? A game of Red Rover runs until a minor injury is had.

Launch vehicle waits. Note the plume coming from the middle. The basic idea with New Horizons is to build the smallest-possible spacecraft and put that on the largest rocket that money can buy. The Atlas V is 200' high and weighs 1.2M lbs. The spacecraft itself is 480 kg, and the science instruments are < 20 kg of that, so it's a tiny parasite on the tip of the launch vehicle. Various parts of the vehicle are powered by solid rocket fuel, kerosene (!), and liquid oxygen (which is what's venting).

After 2 hours of waiting for calmer winds, the launch window closes. No launch today. Back on the bus...

On the road back to Cocoa Beach, there are many NASA-related startups. This one specialized in realistic modeling of the Earth.

Toby's Nose Filters is another NASA-related technology-transfer company (no joke -- nose protection is serious stuff in Florida!).

0X–ëþ

Shuttle Bar & Grill...

We repose post-non-launch. Our badges get us a free round courtesy of shuttle HVAC technician Ron who sees us come in. Note the astronaut shots on the back wall.

The Tea Room has had a recent format change, apparently...

Laura Danly at breakfast.

Jane and John. As we are leaving, we get a call: no launch today. It's raining in DC, power's out, and mission ops at APL is calling in generators.

I hang out and study surfers from the pier. (I did get in the water for some boogie boarding later on.)

Check out that rising moon over the tiki bar!

Too bad New Horizons isn't going toward Orion. Wrong part of the sky.

One of Cocoa Beach's major claims to fame is the 24-hr surf shop.

Back at the Luna Sea (Lunacy?). "One of Cocoa Beach's Finest Bed & Breakfasts", according to the web page.

Launch attempt #3 is set for January 19, 1308 EST. We load into the busses again. This time due to a shift in wind patterns, we are now about 10 miles S of the pad, at a public beach, very near the highway we drove in on to get here several hours earlier. A good number of people are on the pier, but due to safety limitations, a we exceed the maximum weight limit and go to the beach instead. Of course, the beach has other risks...

Ashley pumps for launch one final (?) time.

Jeff Moore's mom, two days before her 80th.

Note the Orlando cruise ships in the background.

Kate reflects.

David aims his binocs at the wrong pad.

Joe Veverka's son is highly foreshortened.

Scot Rafkin.

Several of the 14 busses. We were allowed busses for three launch attempts, so there's an incentive to get off today.

We experience several weather delays for clouds: 1308, 1318, 1328...

Carter went back to NYC after launch attempt #1, but couldn't keep himself away and returned just in time for attempt #3.

Leslie amazes the crowd by pulling out plots of the launch vehicle separation profile from the packet we've all gotten and ignored.

Stuart McMuldroch missed attempts #1 and #2, but makes it today.

NASA health & safety officials such as Edward keep us safe.

Two more delays for low-flying clouds...

Leslie and Paul know how to pass the time.

Speakers give us an audio feed from NASA TV.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Yes yes yes yes yes! 2:00 PM EST! We're off!

A minute or two into flight, the launch vehicle's out of sight.

Last trail of the plume, over an empty pier and empty beach.

We're corralled back on the bus. But hang on! We're 20 minutes into flight now, and there's still plenty of action going on. The Centaur needs to burn, the Star-48 upper stage needs to burn, the spacecraft has to separate... what's happening? Our bus driver's started playing NASA infomercials about the Space Sation again...

0X–ëþ

Thank you Earl!

Back at Kennedy, Ann has been in touch with Alice Bowman at mission ops and gives us more updates. Spacecraft has spun up and we've gotten telemetry!

Hal Levison poses with his kids while waiting for the post-launch press conference.

Hal takes a picture of his boss. Note the small Pluto-the-dog cut off by the NASA camera on Alan's left.

Check out that pencil! David G. apparently loves it too.

Laura, Dave, & I drive back. Note the rocket.

From 10 miles away, an empty launch pad...

Deputy Project Scientist Leslie Young pulls out her Pluto albedo map and gets to work on the real science here.

"Alan -- you asked me if I could dress up as Pluto for the reception? I didn't know if you meant Pluto-the-dog, or Pluto-the-planet..." (And that's Charon in front of me.)

Wow! OK, on the right is Patsy Tombaugh, widow of 1930 Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh. On the left is Jim Christy, discoverer in 1978 of Charon. Note that although Charon is historically and deically a very appropriate name for the moon, it also happened to alliterate with his wife, Charlene...

This is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me! The real-life Charlene has just gone into orbit around me!

Ralph instrument scientist Dennis Reuter searches for spectral features.

I can't believe this! Now in addition to having Charlene/Charon orbit me, I have Carol/Carulon, and Debbie/Debulon also orbit me! Carol Stern and Debbie Weaver are closely related to the discoverers of the new Pluto moons, tentatively named P1 and P2.

Jeanette can finally (?) relax. Almost.

Rocket women from Boeing at a post-launch party.

Alan orbits his favorite moon.

David talks to his favorite moon, Tory.

Laura, David, and I on the beach at 2 AM, T+12 hours.

The next day, I head to Crystal River on the W side of FL for some manatees. The deal is that in 99% of the state, manatees are regulated by the Florida Department of Fish & Wildlife, and no people are allowed in the water at the same time. However, in a small fraction of the state, the Federal regulations take precedence, and these are somewhat more lax in that one can be in the water at the same time as a manatee. Follow the rules:

• No chasing the manatees
• No feeding the manatees
• No grabbing the manatees (one hand behind your back at all times!)
• Don't go into the manatees' sanctuary (denoted by buoys)
• No one in the water 7PM - 7AM
• Don't go up to them, but let them come to you

I drove across the state in time for a 6 AM dive call on this particular boat.

A manatee considers approaching me. For scale, they're about 1000 lbs and most of the length of a Subaru.

We are in a spring (a good mile or two across) which feeds into the ocean. It's freshwater, millions of gallons a day. During the winter, the manatees congregate at the spring to keep warm. During the summer, they go out into the ocean and do whatever they like. This one likes eating seagrass.

Manatees love power-boat propellers. Hmm -- is this a problem? (NB: Our driver is manatee-certified and we did not put any manatees at risk during our ultra-low-speed cruise.)