Mission Timeline

This view of Jupiter and one of its moons, Io, was captured by the New Horizons spacecraft during its Jupiter flyby. Note the volcanic eruption that is visible on Io’s night side.

The New Horizons mission timeline was carefully devised so as to minimize travel time to Pluto. The fastest way to get to Pluto was to determine a route that took the spacecraft past Jupiter. The spacecraft would then receive a gravitational assist from Jupiter that would serve to “slingshot” it out to Pluto and beyond.

June 8, 2001: New Horizons mission approved by NASA
January 19, 2006: Launch of the New Horizons spacecraft
April 7, 2006: Mars orbit crossed
June 13, 2006: Flyby of asteroid 132524 APL
February 28, 2007: Jupiter flyby and gravitational assist
June 27, 2007: Spacecraft enters into sleep mode / hibernation
June 8, 2008: Saturn orbit crossed
February 25, 2010: Halfway point in distance between Earth and Pluto is reached
October 15, 2010: Halfway point in travel time between Earth and Pluto is reached
March 18, 2011: Uranus orbit crossed
August 25, 2014: Neptune orbit crossed
December 6, 2014: Spacecraft wakes up from sleep mode / hibernation
July 14, 2015: Closest approach to Pluto and its moons
Summer 2015: Final selection of KBO candidate(s)
Fall 2015: Final engine burn to reach KBO candidate(s)
January 1, 2019: Flyby of KBO Ultima Thule
2026: End of mission
2038: 100 AU from Sun – if still operating, explores the outer heliosphere

The Changing Surface of Pluto

A series of photos from the Hubble space telescope showing changes over time on the surface of Pluto.

Pluto has a surface whose appearance changes over time. Large changes in both brightness and color indicate that Pluto has a varied surface. In addition, some of these surface changes are thought to be linked to seasonal condensation of portions of Pluto’s atmosphere.