Launch! The fastest spacecraft ever launched
began the first full day of its 3-billion mile journey to Pluto, where it will
study the last unexplored planet and the mysterious icy area that surrounds it.
Launch! The fastest spacecraft ever launched
began the first full day of its 3-billion mile journey to Pluto, where it will
study the last unexplored planet and the mysterious icy area that surrounds it.
The New Horizons spacecraft blasted off aboard an Atlas V rocket Thursday afternoon in a spectacular start to the $700 million mission. Despite the speed — it can reach 36,000 mph — it will take 9 1/2 years to reach Pluto and the frozen, sunless reaches of the solar system.
The 1,054-pound spacecraft is loaded with seven instruments that will photograph the surfaces of Pluto and its large moon, Charon, and analyze Pluto's atmosphere.
New Horizons relies on Hi-Shear's SN9421-7 (7/ 8") Separation Nut actuated by a PC154 Booster Cartridge to release the Atlas V PLF Umbilical Boom (a Pluto Mission unique application). Despite two days of delays due to weather and a power outage at the spacecraft's control center in Maryland, the launch occurred without incident.
Hi-Shear is proud of its history of supplying mission critical explosive and
mechanical components to NASA.
