Pluto Launch Page

Oh, it was lovely to see this in person. We are going to Pluto! Mankind (Humankind, if you prefer) is set to vicariously explore with our little New Horizons probe Mighty Jupiter, Coy Callisto--one of her Galilean moons, and Pluto and her moons. What an amazing sight I saw from the fishing pier in Jetty Park, Cape Canaveral, Florida! Through the clouds she went, streaking like a runaway Slurpee! She did not look back at all her faithful, not-so-secret admirers!

We have indeed crossed a new threshhold, and if we are smart and evolutionary or designed intelligently or both or whatever, we need to process this and hopefully it will someday be seen as the first step to contact and all that sci-fi stuff.

And, as some of you might know, when I was a little kid I liked to pretend I was The King of Pluto. I imagined an Icy Poppy Factory on the planet that provided me with all the pop I could drink. It was a better service than Towne Club. And I provided my people with pop as well. Okay, I know some of you call it soda! I am from Michigan, so sue me!

I could not get the rocket in my Minolta's viewfinder right away, so I decided after the first miss not to bother and just watch it go up and enjoy the moment, duly recording it in my memory bank as well. Thanks, NASA/KSC for picking up my slack! Yes, January 19, 2006 will go down as a day of famy. Even a dumb tape from OBL could not dampen the day. Omar Khayyam would be happy with us and disgusted with him, I like to think.

Luckily, Ken Smith of Florida got a nice shot of the probe as it rocketed out of our atmosphere! Good shooting, Ken!