Space.  The Final Frontier.  Or so they say.

I like the idea of Outer Space.  I think there are all sorts of things out there we really have no idea about.  But I guess we are learning.  Yet… people ask…. Is it really important to find these things out?

Rocket Scientists think so.  And if a Rocket Scientist thinks so…. well…. who the hell am I to argue.

So yes.  We continue to learn about space.

For instance, on this date, January 19, in the year 2006….  an unmanned NASA spacecraft hurtled toward Pluto on a 3-billion-mile  journey to the solar system’s last unexplored planet.  Now this voyage is going to take a LONG dang time.  Whether it is in space-travel-years… or dog years.

They are guessing it will get there about 9 1/2 years after take off.  That would be 2015.  I’m not sure where it is right now…..  but it was the fastest spacecraft ever launched…. reaching a maximum velocity of 36,256 mph.  And you think I drive fast.

The probe, powered by 24 pounds (11 kilograms) of plutonium, will not land on Pluto. However…. it will photograph it, analyze its atmosphere and send data back across the solar system to Earth.  They won’t be using Instagram.  I can tell you that much right now.

But here is the thing.  When they launched it…. they were sending it to the PLANET Pluto… as I alluded to earlier.  Eight months after they sent the little beast on its way…. those Scientests kicked PLUTO out of our Solar System.  Yep.  My favorite planet got booted off the island.

So now…. Pluto will now be dubbed a dwarf planet.  Pluto.  A dwarf.  There are about 50 other dwarf planets out there…. from what I’ve read.  Hi Ho.  Hi Ho.  Snow White and the 50 Dwarf Planets.

As I mentioned.  We continue to learn about the deep, dark, depths of outer space.  Can it help us?  I don’t know.  Ask a Rocket Scientist that one.

But I’ll tell you… if Walt Disney kicks Pluto out of Disney World… I am going to see stars.

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” – Galileo Galilei