The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has chosen the Atlas V expendable launch vehicle provided by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] as the launch system for the proposed Pluto New Horizons mission. The mission is scheduled for launch to Pluto in January 2006. As proposed, the mission is a scientific investigation to obtain the first reconnaissance of Pluto-Charon, a binary planet system. This will be a firm fixed-price launch service task order awarded under the terms of the current NASA launch services contract. Launch services will be provided by International Launch Services.