NH is fastest to be propelled away from Earth. The other probes got it from other gravity weels (Helios from the Sun). NH will not exceed Voyager's speed, which it obtained during its flybys.

Just to share, I made Astronomy Picture of the Day today:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060124.html

pretty cool!

I forgot to post the answer to the big question...

When will NH pass Voyager? It won't.

Straight from Ralph McNutt (PEPSSI project manager). New Horizons is not going as fast as Voyager (it is only the fastest probe to actually leave Earth). Voyager picked up more speed during its flybys than NH will, and thus NH will never pass.

Disappointing news. And one less launch.

Alright, it's all on my website now:

http://www.launchphotography.com/NewHorizons.html

Some new ones in the "on the pad, sunset" section.

Enjoy! This makes the launch officially complete for me :-D

You can check out my launch photos on SpaceflightNow in this gallery now:


http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av010/...launch2/01.html



I will post all plus pre launch photos to my website, probably later tonight (and I see the rollout photos were already shared :-)

You got it about right, Spitzer was the fastest in my time (exceeded by the couple of Athena's they launched, but I won't count those). I thought MESSENGER looked faster in person, but weight numbers say Spitzer should have had the edge in reality. My memory of Spitzer was probably just a bit off.

Today's was like a Delta 2 with nine solids (not Heavy though).

Absolutely thrilling launch. It was very fast, Delta 2 but bigger.

I had the privelege of watching from atop the Shuttle Launch Control Center (LCC), which has a great clear view of the pad.

Will post photos later.

Well I am absolutely exhausted, but I know it's well worth it in the end!

Beautiful rocket out there, just got back from the launch pad servicing remote cameras.

Thanks. At the launch site now, cameras at the pad ready to go. Beautiful weather.

Go Atlas, Go Centaur, Go New Horizons!

Lol, well that's true. But it will be seen after it rolls out. The spacecraft is sealed inside and the rocket fully assembled with all decals. It is probably also hard to see the decals on the SE side, since it is inside the VIF completely.

There is nothing to photograph now until it rolls to the pad.

I noted something I had missed until today. While they are touting the fact that this launch window is occuring 100 years to the birth of Clyde Tombaugh, I had not realized that he passed away on Jan. 17 (1997).

I just thought I'd ask for a show of hands of who is heading to see the launch, including team members :-), and the thought of possibly doing a little get together, perhaps a dinner. I was thinking Monday evening. Just a suggestion!

I personally can't wait for this one. Of course the real movie isn't voice overs, this is a trailer :-D

No, not what you are thinking of.... there is only one Indian River bridge leading to KSC and that is the one mentioned above; it starts at the Astronaut Hall of Fame and goes to the Visitors Complex. This you cannot stop your car on or walk to.

By the way, we are confusing rivers. The Indian River is what flows on front of Titusville. The Banana River is between the launch pads and, for example, the VAB, Merrit Island and the Visitors Center.

Further north in Titusville is the 406 bridge which leads into the wildlife refuge; that is a nice place to watch shuttle (and Atlas 5 at 14 miles), but the 'bridge' is just a small drawbridge on the Titusville side and does not get any closer to the pads than Titusville itself. (Kind of confusing, I know).

The viewing area by the Port I gave directions to is 'on' the Banana River.

If you are coming for the Shuttle, get a causeway pass (and the causeway is over the Banana River). That takes you to the closest public viewing site at 6 or 7 miles vs. which pad it's launching from. If you can get a VIP or Press access, that's closer (in fact the closest anyone gets) at 3-4 miles depending.

You are not allowed to stop along the highway over the Banana River, but it would be beautiful. If you could stop there, it is better than Titusville itself for the Shuttle.

Titusville is a nice place to watch too, it's also across pure water and provides a different perspectvice. But you'll be a drop further and the pad is partially below the horizon.

Call me Ben :-) Here we go. If you are coming Jan 17, print this out.

The Port is the closest place you can go and still see the pad (for the public); you can get closer by going to the KSC VC, but you will only see it once it has launched and risen above the trees and structures there.

The Visitors Center is approx. six miles from the pad. Port Canaveral is 12.

You can also go to Titusville, but that is 14. From the Port, it will arc from left to right beautifully, whereas in Titusville it will be heading away from you. From the VC it will be somewhat left to right but not as wide.

To sum it up, the best place is the Port. If the sound matters more to you than a nice look and a clean visual, then by all means head to the VC. Stay in the parkling lot and you won't even have to pay!

The best place would normally be Playalinda Beach, at just five miles from pad 41. They were open for every Atlas 5 until MRO, so presumably NASA (who controls the refuge) closes it for their spacecraft; and given the RTG I am quite sure it will be again.

Directions to Port Canaveral:

You will need to get to the Beeline (now called the Beachline), Route 528, from wherever you are staying or driving from. Once on 528, regardless of which way you are coming from, you take the exit that is labeled with the giant *Blue* sign (that's what stands out more than anything!) marked "Terminal A/North Cargo Pier" and which heads off to CCAFS Gate 1.

When you exit it curves around and over the drawbridge. About 1/4 mile later, the road curves sharply to the right and at the same time it goes under an overpass. It is at and just past this curve that the best viewing is located. Pull your car over to the left (water) side of the road under the telephone poles.

Come early, at least two-three hours before, because it fills up for every launch and even more so for this one I'm sure. (Delta 4 Heavy was the most crowded I've ever seen it, both sides of the road were filled up with cars parking).

Do not go all the way to the gate and watch there. For one thing the view is blocked by land, and for another the security folks will chase you away.

The view will be like this:

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av004/launchgallery/06.html

How loud it will be from 12 miles depends mainly on the wind direction, but it will not be more than a moderately loud rumble at best. If you went to the VC, then it will be loud enough to crackle and rattle your bones to a good degree as long as there are not strong winds as well.

By the way, despite the RTG the safety lines remain the same so far. Press site 39 is the closest at 4 miles due west of the pad; the ASOC is about 4.5 miles away and due South of the pad. They both have nice views. The press usually has the option of travelling over to the South of the pad where there is a view that is across the water rather than the partial tree obscuration from the PS.

Enjoy. I hope that helps those of you coming. Feel free to ask any questions.

If you'd like a photographers advice :-) then the absolute best online digital printing site right now is www.Mpix.com.

If you want larger than 20x30 you will have to find a poster or large print specialist, I think I know of a couple but I'll have to double check.

If you're willing to wait a little longer and do it via mail, Dale Laboratories (www.dalelabs.com) is fantastic and they do thing such as professional Gatorboard mounting and the like, both digital and film. Those are the two places I use all the time, for both my work and when printing hi-res NASA photos.

It also has a Florida quarter onboard:

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27646

I'd like to know more about how that little quarter helps spin balancing!

I guess they just substituted it instead of some other ballast for fun.

Don't know about hi-res shots, that's about it that I have ever seen. What did you mean by the congrats?

I've never seen the AVweek story that said that, but the closest the public can get to pad 17 is three miles. The cause of the failure is believed to be casing weakening because that particular SRB was used in some tests before being used on that rocket. The other likely filure cause was that the booster was banged against something by accident and never noticed...

https://www.patrick.af.mil/heritage/DELTA%2012.htm

A better photo here:
http://www.skyramp.org/rocket.jpg

That explosion is over a mile from one side of it to the other. But perhaps the most spectacular explosion was the Titan 4 on Aug 12 1998 as the sun rose over the Cape:

http://www.spaceline.org/galleries/cpx-40-41/blowup41.jpg
http://members.tripod.com/divinglocker/titan4blows.jpg
http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink...mages/02_02.jpg

Here are photos of the Titan 34D failure in 1986 at Vandy:
http://www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espac...plosion1986.jpg
http://www.pr.afrl.af.mil/archive/titan/ti...iv_mishaplg.jpg

This will be the fastest Atlas in history, whereas the MRO vehicle (Atlas 5 401) is the slowest they've launched yet.

Expect NH to fly off similar to a Delta 2 launch and clear the lightning towers in about 4 seconds.

Also note that the PHSF has orange sodium lights in it and that KSC uses more Photoshop than it should. It is not green-gold in person, it is just plain gold. If you want to see the more naturally colored images, check out the ones I posted on my website (which you all saw).

I did follow the link :-) There is kapton that does not contain gold, but gold kapton does (and this is not the orange kind).

The kapton used in the Apollo era, for example, had gold on one side and aluminum on the other, thus was silver and gold on opposite sides.

The kapton/polymide substrate does contain gold. It uses Vapor Deposited Gold. It is extremely thin, so it's not as if it's very costly, but it is indeed gold.