May 13, 2018 7:56 pm

Go Behind-the-Scenes of the New Horizons Mission with David Grinspoon, Chuck Nice, and Alan Stern

“On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened.” And now we get to hear the story behind it all. On this week’s episode of StarTalk All-Stars, astrobiologist David Grinspoon, a.k.a Dr. FunkySpoon, is back to host alongside comic co-host Chuck Nice and Alan Stern, principle investigator of the New Horizons mission, as they go all in on what it took to get to Pluto.

In celebration of David and Alan’s new book Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto we take a deep dive into the epic journey that evolved from just a dream to one of the greatest accomplishments of planetary exploration.

On this episode, David and Alan tell great stories and fascinating background on the New Horizons mission. You’ll hear about some of the geeky mechanics and inventions that had to be made for the mission to get the greenlight – like spacecraft hibernation. Go behind-the-scenes of mission control on the day of the launch and flyby and learn what it was like to be in the room when it happened.

One of my favorite parts of the episode is hearing about the race against time to launch the spacecraft in a three-week window in 2006 in order to get a gravity-assist from Jupiter all the while hoping the mission makes it to Pluto before its atmosphere collapsed in on itself.

Find out about some of the quirky traditions and superstitions engineers and team members had during the mission. Alan also explains how the team had to navigate building a rocket that needed parts from two rival space companies.

We also have time for some fan-submitted Cosmic Queries on the data we got back from Pluto, what modern day instrument Alan would include if he could re-launch the spacecraft, and if there are more planets lurking in the shadows of our solar system…

You can listen to New Horizons, with David Grinspoon and Alan Stern right here on our website, as well as on our All-Stars channels on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen