Timeline
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- Distance from Earth 0 kmDistance to Pluto 4,766,900,000 km1/19/2006 1/19/2006Successful launch
New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006, atop an Atlas V 551 rocket with a Centaur upper stage. That upper stage, and the New Horizons probe inside, had highest launch speed of any man-made object leaving Earth.
View - Distance from Earth 385,000 kmDistance to Pluto 4,766,400,000 km1/19/2006 4/7/2006Passing of the Moon's orbit
New Horizons took only nine hours to reach the Moon's orbit, passing lunar orbit before midnight EST that day. The Apollo astronauts took three days.
View - Distance from Earth 93,900,000 kmDistance to Pluto 4,596,500,000 km4/7/2006 6/13/2006Passes Mars orbit
New Horizons passes the orbit of Mars.
View - Distance from Earth 275,200,000 kmDistance to Pluto 4,400,000,000 km6/13/2006 11/18/2006Flyby of asteroid 132524 APL
The probe passed closest to the asteroid 132524 APL at about 101,867 km.
View - Distance from Earth 804,000,000 kmDistance to Pluto 4,085,500,000 km11/28/2006 1/10/2007First image of Pluto
An image of Pluto was taken from a great distance.
View - Distance from Earth 834,300,000 kmDistance to Pluto 4,014,900,000 km1/10/2007 2/28/2007Navigation exercise near Jupiter
Long distance observations of Jupiter's outer moon Callirrhoe as a navigation exercise.
View - Distance from Earth 807,900,000 kmDistance to Pluto 3,937,400,000 km2/28/2007 6/8/2008Jupiter flyby
Closest approach occurred at 05:43:40 UTC at 2.305 million km.
View - Distance from Earth 1,505,000,000 kmDistance to Pluto 3,213,900,000 km6/8/2008 12/29/2009Passing of Saturn's orbit
New Horizons passed Saturn's orbit.
View - Distance from Earth 2,453,400,000 kmDistance to Pluto 2,438,400,000 km12/29/2009 2/25/2010The probe became closer to Pluto than to Earth
Pluto was then 32.7 AU from Earth, and the probe was 16.4 AU from Earth.
View - Distance from Earth 2,463,200,000 kmDistance to Pluto 2,381,200,000 km2/25/2010 3/18/2011Half mission distance reached
Half the travel distance of 2.38×109 kilometers (1,480,000,000 mi) was completed.
View - Distance from Earth 2,938,900,000 kmDistance to Pluto 1,899,100,000 km3/18/2011 12/2/2011The probe passed Uranus's orbit
This is the fourth planetary orbit the spacecraft crossed since launch.
View - Distance from Earth 3,374,600,000 kmDistance to Pluto 1,582,200,000 km12/2/2011 2/11/2012New Horizons drew closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft has ever been
Previously, Voyager 1 held the record for the closest approach. (~10.58 AU)
View - Distance from Earth 3,451,000,000 kmDistance to Pluto 1,496,000,000 km2/11/2012 7/1/2013New Horizons was 10 AU from Pluto
Happened at around 4:55 UTC.
View - Distance from Earth 3,837,600,000 kmDistance to Pluto 886,700,000 km7/1/2013 10/25/2013New Horizons captures its first image of Charon
Charon is clearly separated from Pluto using the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI).
View - Distance from Earth 4,188,700,000 kmDistance to Pluto 748,000,000 km10/25/2013 7/20/2014New Horizons was 5 AU from Pluto View
- Distance from Earth 4,328,300,000 kmDistance to Pluto 426,400,000 km7/20/2014 8/25/2014Photos of Pluto and Charon
Images obtained showing both bodies orbiting each other, distance 2.8 AU.
View - Distance from Earth 4,420,400,000 kmDistance to Pluto 385,300,000 km8/25/2014 12/6/2014Passing of Neptune's orbit
New Horizons passes the orbit of Neptune.This was the fifth planetary orbit crossed.
View - Distance from Earth 4,776,700,000 kmDistance to Pluto 262,500,000 km12/6/2014 1/1/2015Awoke from hibernation
New Horizons successfully awoke from hibernation.
View - Distance from Earth 4,827,700,000 kmDistance to Pluto 231,500,000 km1/1/2015 1/15/2015Observation of Kuiper belt object VNH0004
Distant observations from a distance of roughly 75 million km (~0.5 AU).
- Distance from Earth 4,843,000,000 kmDistance to Pluto 214,900,000 km1/15/2015 2/1/2015New Horizons begins observing the Pluto system View
- Distance from Earth 4,850,200,000 kmDistance to Pluto 194,500,000 km2/1/2015 3/10/2015Observations of Pluto begin
New Horizons is now close enough to Pluto for the main science mission to begin.
View - Distance from Earth 4,829,200,000 kmDistance to Pluto 149,600,000 km3/10/2015 5/5/2015Closer to Pluto than the Earth is to the Sun.
New Horizons was 1 AU from Pluto. In addition, a 93-second thruster burst slightly adjusted the New Horizons spacecraft’s trajectory toward Pluto.
View - Distance from Earth 4,761,200,000 kmDistance to Pluto 83,400,000 km5/5/2015 7/14/2015Better than Hubble
Images exceed best Hubble Space Telescope resolution.
View - Distance from Earth 4,772,400,000 kmDistance to Pluto 12,500 km7/14/2015 2016–2020Flyby of Pluto and Charon
Flyby of Pluto around 7:49:59 a.m. EDT (11:49:59 UTC) at 12,500 km, 13.78 km/s.
View - Distance from Earth 6,500,000,000 kmDistance to Pluto see below km1/1/2019 1/1/2019Flyby of Kuiper belt object Ultima Thule
The probe will perform a flyby of Ultima Thule at a distance of 3,500 to 10,000 kilometers.
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