First, folks have been asking if they'll be able to see me on the NASA feed. The answer is no...there's no camera in the New Horizons MOC. The folks on camera are monitoring the rocket, not the spacecraft.
Second, it turns out that New Horizons, which after the Jupiter gravity assist will be travelling at 47,000 mph, is not the fastest spacecraft ever. It's third. For that matter, it's the third-fastest manmade object ever. Helios 1 and 2, launched into solar orbit in the mid-70s, had perihelion (closest to sun) speeds of 148,000 and 153,000 miles/hour respectively. (Thank you Frank for forcing me to calculate Helios 1's speed for completeness sake.) So they win. Voyager 1 will slide down to fourth at 38,600 mph assuming all goes well and we do the Jupiter flyby.
Third, that Mission to Pluto show is really good. Be sure to catch it.
-S
Refs:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/q0109c.shtml
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/performance/q0023.shtml
http://lxtosh.ifsi.rm.cnr.it/SZ/plasma/helios.html
Talking to yourself is a sign of impending mental collapse.
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