New Horizons
Liftoff
January 19, 2006
Still Exploring
Mission Info
New Horizons is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers mission category. The goal of the mission study the dwarf planet Pluto, its moons, and other objects in the Kuiper Belt, and the transformation of the early Solar System. On July 14, 2015 it flew above the surface of Pluto making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet.
It collected data on the atmospheres, surfaces, interiors, and environments of Pluto and its moons. It also studies other objects in the Kuiper belt. New Horizon confirmed the existence of a 'hydrogen wall' at the outer edges of the Solar System first detected in 1992 by the two Voyager spacecraft. It is the fifth space probe to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.
Key Facts
Atlas V 551
Cape Canaveral, Fla.
First spacecraft to explore Pluto and its Moons up close
By the time it reached the Pluto system, the spacecraft had traveled farther away and for a longer time period (more than nine years) than any previous deep space spacecraft ever launched
Discovered the size of Pluto is about 1,470 miles (2,370 kilometers) in diameter
Mission Images
