NASANew Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission - 2006-001A
New Horizons
First spacecraft to visit Pluto, now exploring the Kuiper Belt
PHASE 01
Launch
Jan 19, 2006 ✓
PHASE 02
Jupiter gravity assist
Feb 28, 2007 ✓
PHASE 03
Pluto flyby
Jul 14, 2015 ✓
PHASE 04
Arrokoth flyby
Jan 1, 2019 ✓
PHASE 05 - ACTIVE
KBO survey
2020-present
- Telemetry
New Horizons at a glance.
Distance
60.1AU
Signal lag
8h 20m
Velocity
13.8km/s
Status
Extended ops
- Status
From Pluto to the edge.
New Horizons reached Pluto on July 14, 2015 after a nine-and-a-half year journey, returning the first detailed images of the dwarf planet and its moons. In 2019 it conducted a flyby of Arrokoth, the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft.
Now well into the Kuiper Belt, the mission continues to study the outer heliosphere as power slowly diminishes.