Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, CO., left, with print of a U.S. stamp with suggested update since the New Horizons spacecraft explored Pluto in July 2015.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encounter with “Ultima Thule” – a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles beyond Pluto – and the farthest space probe flyby in history.

Added good news is that New Horizons principal investigator and planetary scientist, Alan Stern, is prepared for puzzlement.

Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering Pluto and its largest moon, Charon (foreground) in July 2015.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Steve Gribben/Alex Parker

I discussed this new and imminent record-setting flyby with Stern, fleshing out what’s ahead for this trailblazing probe – at Ultima Thule…and beyond.

Go to my new Space.com story:

Encounters with Distant Worlds: An Interview with New Horizons’ Alan Stern (Exclusive)

https://www.space.com/42843-new-horizons-alan-stern-ultima-thule-interview.html

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