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Blue Dot 99: The Pluto Underground

Dave talks to Alan Stern and David Grinspoon, coauthors of Chasing Pluto: Inside The Epic First Mission to Pluto. When Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989, it closed out the golden age of solar system exploration. But it left one unexplored body: Pluto. Stern was part of a group of scientists known as "The Pluto Underground." For years the proposed, lobbied and planned for a robotic mission to what was then, "the ninth planet." The mission that would be eventually called New Horizons went through decades of starts and stops. The story of how this mission ultimately succeeded in July 2015 is a triumphant tale of perseverence.

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.