New Horizons Flyby

Editorial | New Horizons Delivers
Few space missions are hyped like New Horizons was leading up to its July 14 encounter with Pluto. But when showtime finally arrived, NASA and its grand piano-sized probe delivered, and then some.

Extended Timetable for Decision on New Horizons Extended Mission
A final decision on an extended mission for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, one that would take it past a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO), won’t come for more than a year, although the project will be taking steps in the coming months to prepare for such a flyby.

First Closeups of Pluto From New Horizons Wow Scientists
The first set of images and other data collected by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its July 14 flyby of Pluto, returned to Earth July 15, are already causing project scientists to reassess their understanding of the dwarf planet and its moons.

Alan Stern’s Pluto Encore: Words and Sounds
We haven't even seen all the data from the first flyby, but New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern is already thinking about an encore Pluto mission.

New Horizons Successfully Performs Pluto Flyby
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft carried out a flyby of Pluto July 14, collecting images and other data about the distant dwarf planet and its moons that it will spend more than a year returning to Earth.

Pluto the Lovable Underdog
Working at the APL media center for the New Horizons mission for more than twelve hours can make it difficult to judge just how interesting the Pluto flyby is to the general public.

Send a Lander to Pluto? It’s Definitely Crossed Alan Stern’s Mind
Listen to the New Horizons principal investigator discuss his thoughts about sending a lander to the Pluto system.

As Pluto Recedes, the Wait for New Horizons’ Signal Begins
While New Horizons passed by Pluto this morning, the science team, and the rest of the world, now have to wait the rest of the day to hear back from the spacecraft to find out how well it carried out its flyby.

Latest Batch of Pluto Flyby Images Unveiled
SpaceNews’ special coverage of New Horizon's history-making Pluto flyby — including an archived liveblog documenting the encounter as it unfolded over four exciting days — is sponsored by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

Mikulski Takes a Victory Lap Around Pluto
The member of Congress who played the biggest role in getting New Horizons funded and launched paid a visit to the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) on Monday (April 13) to wish the team the best for the upcoming flyby.

Meet Ralph, the New Horizons Camera Bringing Pluto into Sharp Focus
Eighty-five years after being discovered by an astronomer named Clyde, a camera called Ralph is about to bring Pluto into sharp focus.

Astrophysics App Specialist Plans Pluto-Palooza with Mobile New Horizons Tracker
A software developer that specializes in astrophysics simulations is hoping to rally support for science and space exploration with its free mobile app, Pluto Safari, which tracks the New Horizons spacecraft as it zooms ever closer the distant dwarf planet.

Q&A with New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern
For Alan Stern, the wait is almost over. On July 14, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, after a journey spanning nearly a decade, will fly past Pluto at 50,000 kilometers per hour, becoming the first spacecraft to make a close approach to this distant world that, for three-quarters of a century, was classified as the ninth planet.

New Horizons Back on Track for Pluto Flyby
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has exited a protective safe mode that project officials said July 6 was triggered when the spacecraft’s primary computer became overloaded.

New Horizons To Resume Science Operations by July 7
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suffered an anomaly July 4 that put the spacecraft into a protective safe mode less than ten days before its flyby of Pluto, but project scientists are confident the spacecraft will resume normal operations within a few days.

SpaceGeeks Ep. 2: There Is No ‘Dwarf Planetary Science’
In this episode of the SpaceGeeks podcast, Dan Leone catches up with New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern days ahead of the historic Pluto flyby. The former NASA science boss explains what it's like to fill in one of the last blank spaces on the map: the never-before-seen-up-close planet/dwarf planet/ice dwarf at the edge of the mysterious and enormous Kuiper belt.