HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Space enthusiasts will be able to hear first-hand about the New Horizons spacecraft’s recent successful flyby of Pluto at the upcoming Galaxy Forum Kansas on Saturday, Aug. 29, from 1-3 p.m. at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

A Reno County native, Dr. Glen Fountain, project manager for NASA’s New Horizons-Kuiper Belt Mission at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel, Md., will be the featured speaker.

He’ll share first-hand information about the spacecraft’s flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, 2015, after a 9 ½ year journey of 3 billion miles. Topics will include the uniqueness of Pluto, the mission challenges presented, the spacecraft and its many firsts, its journey, results so far, and the future.

This event is free and open to the public. Included will be a talk about the discoverer of Pluto, Kansan Clyde Tombaugh, plus a short planetarium show and presentation by the Kansas Cosmosphere education staff.

Having grown up in Arlington, Fountain attended Hutchinson Community College and graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Kansas State University before joining APL in 1966. He has worked with the world’s first satellite navigation system, gamma ray astronomy, near-earth magnetic fields, APL’s space science group and the Hopkins ultraviolet telescope. He began managing the New Horizons program in 2004. New Horizons lifted off in 2006.

This event is sponsored by the Ad Astra Kansas Foundation with the cooperation of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

The Ad Astra Kansas Foundation is a 501c3 organization focused on promoting science, especially the space sciences in Kansas. Its work is mainly educational. This seventh Galaxy Forum Kansas is one of a series of national/international forums to enrich 21st century science education. For more information, go to www.adastra-ks.org.