If Only We Had Taller Been: New Horizons Makes the 3 Billion Mile Trip Past Pluto

       The startlingly clear images of dwarf planet Pluto's surface have captivated me all day. 

     Images from 3 billion miles from earth being transmitted by the New Horizons piano-sized probe have dominated nearly every news and science outlet. There's a Google doodle  and a New Yorker cartoon:

     Nine years after the 2006 launch we are treated to these false-color composite images of Pluto and Pluto's moon, Charon:

      There's even a New Horizons tribute with Ray Bradbury's voice reciting  If only we had taller been.

     For me, all of this spectacular imagery has me thinking about the U. S. space program's first probe of Mars on this very date (Bastille Day!) 50 years ago in 1965 . And, of course, the Moon Landing on July 20, 1969. 

       What is it about our space program and July?! Best time for good publicity? Best time for images? Other ideas?

All hail Pluto, the (round) dwarf planet and Happy Quatorze Juillet!

Steph

P.S. Hey. . .'Sup?