NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, to be launched toward the planet Pluto
on Jan. 11 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, will be the
focus of a news media opportunity at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4 at
Kennedy Space Center.

Media representatives will be taken inside the clean room at KSC’s
Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) to photograph the New
Horizons spacecraft and talk with project management and test team
members from NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory.

New Horizons is the first mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program of
medium-class planetary missions. The spacecraft, designed for NASA by
the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel,
Md., will fly by Pluto and its moon, Charon, as early as summer 2015.

The National Research Council ranked the first reconnaissance of Pluto
and the Kuiper Belt at the top of its priority list for planetary
missions to be launched in this decade. A close-up look at these
mysterious worlds will provide new information about the origin and
evolution of our solar system.

Carrying seven scientific instruments, the compact 1,060-pound New
Horizons probe will characterize the global geology and geomorphology
of Pluto and Charon, map their surface compositions and temperatures,
and examine Pluto’s complex atmosphere. After that, flybys of Kuiper
Belt objects from even farther in the solar system may be undertaken
in an extended mission.

Participating in the media event will be:

Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio

David Kusnierkiewicz, New Horizons Mission Systems Engineer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Michael Stelzer, NASA Mission Integration Manager
NASA Launch Services Program, Kennedy Space Center

Kurt Lindstrom, New Horizons Program Executive
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Other spokespeople will also be available from the U.S. Department of
Energy and Lockheed Martin.

For this event, full clean room protocol must be observed. Those
planning to attend are required to wear long pants and closed-toe
shoes. Clean room attire (bunny suits) will be furnished. Quality
control personnel will request cleaning of photographic equipment
with alcohol wipes that will be provided.

No suede, leather or vinyl camera cases are permitted within the clean
room. Special bags will be provided for camera accessories. Please do
not wear perfume, cologne or makeup. No graphite pencils, food,
tobacco, chewing gum, lighters, matches, pocketknives, cell phones or
two-way pagers will be permitted inside the clean room. Wireless
microphones and electronic flash photography will be permitted. The
lighting in the facility is high-pressure sodium (orange).

Those needing accreditation should apply online at
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov.

For further information regarding accreditation for the event, contact
the NASA News Center at 321/867-2468 by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3.

On Friday, Nov. 4, media will depart from the KSC Press Site by bus
for the PHSF at 12:30 p.m. Arrival back at the KSC Press Site is
anticipated at approximately 3:30 p.m.