NASA's first Pluto probe heads to launch pad
NASA's first Pluto probe heads to launch pad
New Horizons to get massive boost into far reaches of solar system
Updated: 2:09 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2005
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A small spacecraft bound for Pluto was being prepared for transfer to the launch pad on Friday in preparation for blastoff next month, NASA officials said.
New Horizons is the centerpiece of a $650 million mission to explore the last of the solar system's original nine planets. Scientists recently have discovered hundreds of Pluto-like objects orbiting more than 50 times farther away from the sun than Earth.
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