PUBLIC LECTURE- New Horizons: The Farthest Exploration of Worlds in History

After a dramatic, 26-year effort to develop and fly the mission, NASA’s New Horizons made the first spacecraft exploration of the Pluto system in 2015, and the first spacecraft exploration of any Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) in 2019. I will recount the history of the mission, its historic encounters with planet Pluto and KBO Arrokoth, the major scientific discoveries made to date, the virtual public reaction to this exploration, and the mission’s future plans during its extended mission to explore the Kuiper Belt, including a possible final KBO flyby, in the late 2020s.

About the speaker
Dr. Alan Stern is a flown commercial astronaut, planetary scientist, space program executive, aerospace consultant, speaker, and author. He has explored the wreck of the RMS Titanic, and leads NASA’s $1B New Horizons mission that explored the Pluto system and is now exploring the Kuiper Belt—the farthest exploration in the history of humankind. He has twice been named to the Time 100.

See more about Alan Stern https://alanstern.space/about/