The Last First Planetary Mission

September 14, 2016 • by Marc Airhart

University of Texas at Austin alumnus Alan Stern describes the challenges, and the joys, of the last first mission to a planet.

Artist's illustration of a spacecraft flying past a planet

The New Horizons spacecraft brought humanity face to face with the last unexplored planet in our solar system: Pluto. What we're learning is amazing. But, time and again, the mission almost didn't happen. University of Texas at Austin alumnus Alan Stern describes the challenges, and the joys, of the last first mission to a planet.

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