October 27, Greg McCauley, Link Space Science Institute

Greg McCauley, Executive Director, Link Space Science Institute
Chasing Pluto: The First Mission to the Last Planet 
The Pluto program was recently featured at this summer’s Indiana State Fair in the Glass Barn. The $700 million NASA New Horizons mission launched in January 2006, was tasked with lifting the veil on a world that has remained mysterious since its 1930 discovery. Traveling 9 1/2 years and nearly 3.2 billion miles, it’s one of the most ambitions and historic NASA unmanned missions of exploration in history.

Built as a private planetarium the Link Observatory at one time fell into the hands of a few amateur astronomers. Greg McCauley sat on the board of this group and saw a vision for the observatory that would both honor the trust and enlarge the capabilities of the program. The Link Observatory has launched an ambitious program backed up with a dedicated mission, staff and volunteers to ignite curiosity, learning, fun and new interest in how space science touches our every day lives among school children in central Indiana. Their ultimate aim is to impact a far wider region of the United States.