New Horizons lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 19:00:00 UTC on 19 January 2006, which was 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. The chart for liftoff has a Capricorn Sun, a Virgo Moon and Gemini rising. The Sun stands in the 9th house of long journeys, and Pluto, the world the spacecraft was bound for, waits in the 7th house of meetings.
When New Horizons launched, Pluto sat at 25° Sagittarius in the 7th house, the house of partners and of whoever you meet face to face. The 7th lies on the far side of the chart from the rising sign, so the launch's own starting point and its destination face each other across the sky. Sagittarius is the explorer's sign, the one that loves the open road and the farthest view, which makes it a fine sign for a destination to wear. The Moon in Virgo makes a square to Pluto, a careful, detail-minded Moon keeping its eye on the goal.
At liftoff the Sun was at 29°33' Capricorn, the sign's very last degree, in the 9th house of travel, study and wide horizons. Capricorn is the sign of long-range plans and the summit reached one patient step at a time. Mercury and Venus are in Capricorn too, both in the 8th house, with Venus moving retrograde. The Sun makes an easy trine to the Moon in Virgo, two earth signs in step: practical, precise and steady. Neptune, the planet of the faraway, shares the 9th house with the Sun from Aquarius.
Gemini was rising at 7° as New Horizons cleared the pad, the sign of curiosity, questions and messages sent back and forth. Saturn in Leo and the North Node in Aries both make easy sextiles to the rising degree, each within a degree, lending structure and a sense of direction. Uranus in Pisces, high in the 10th house, squares the rising degree, a spark of the unexpected near the top of the chart. Mars in Taurus faces Jupiter in Scorpio across the sky, a degree from exact: steady push meeting big ambition.