S. Alan Stern

Mission PI, New Horizons

Southwest Research Institute and the Florida Space Institute

New Horizons is NASA's mission to explore the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft was launched on 19 January 2006 and will begin its encounter studies of Pluto in early 2015, culminating on 14 July 2015 with a close approach just 12,500 km from Pluto. The spacecraft carries sophisticated panchromatic and color images, IR and UV  mapping spectrometers, a radio science package, two in situ plasma instruments, and a dust counter. This presentation will provide an overview of the history of this mission, the science behind it, the capabilities of the spacecraft and payload, the plans for our encounter with planet Pluto, and briefly outline the extended mission we hope to fly across the Kuiper Belt.