New Horizons Launch to Pluto

Destination: Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft roared off its launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida , USA in 2006 toward adventures in the distant Solar System . The craft is the fastest spaceships ever launched by humans, having passed the Moon only nine hours after launch, and Jupiter only a year later. After spending almost a decade crossing the Solar System, New Horizons will fly past Pluto on Tuesday. Pluto , officially a planet when New Horizons launched, has never been visited by a spacecraft or photographed up close. After Pluto , the robot spaceship will visit one or more Kuiper Belt Objects orbiting the Sun even farther out than Pluto. Pictured , the New Horizons craft launches into space atop a powerful Atlas V rocket. Pluto flyby updates: #PlutoFlyby, Twitter , Facebook , Web