After an interplanetary voyage of nine years, and covering a distance of approximately 3 billion miles, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has buzzed past Pluto in a historic flyby.
At this historic moment, the spacecraft has taken the most detailed images of Pluto ever taken, which will enable the scientists to know more about the dwarf planet.
The New Horizons spacecraft was launched in January 2006 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Center in Florida, US.
It was built under the NASA New Frontiers programme for exploring the planets of the solar system. Not only has it made the record of being first spacecraft to be so close to Pluto, but at the launch speed of 16.26 kilometres per second, it also holds the record of highest launch speed of any spacecraft ever.
At the speed of 58,536 kilometres per hour, the spacecraft flew by Pluto at 7:49 AM EDT and 4:50 PM Pakistan Standard Time. It was just 12,500 kilometres far from Pluto at its closest approach.
“I have to pinch myself. Look what we accomplished,” mission operations manager Alice Bowman said. “It is truly amazing that humankind can go out and explore these worlds and to see Pluto be revealed just before our eyes. It is just fantastic.
“New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern described what he called “a moment of celebration,” with the promise of a “16-month data waterfall” ahead that will help scientists write whole new textbooks about Pluto.
“We have completed the initial reconnaissance of the solar system, an endeavor started under President (John F.) Kennedy more than 50 years ago, continuing today under President (Barack) Obama,” Stern told reporters.
The 478 kilogramme spacecraft is primarily built by the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University USA and the Southwest Research Institute.
Pluto is roughly at a distance of over 4 billion kilometres, and with a diameter of mere 2370 kilometres, it remained a hard target for even the most powerful Earth-based and orbiting telescopes to capture its detailed images.