What is the name of the NASA spacecraft that reached Pluto in 2015?

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New Horizons is the NASA spacecraft that reached Pluto in 2015.

NASA launched New Horizons on 19 January 2006 as part of its New Frontiers program. After receiving a gravity boost from Jupiter in 2007, the probe spent years crossing the outer Solar System, much of that time in a planned hibernation mode to conserve power and reduce wear on its systems.

On 14 July 2015, New Horizons made the first close flyby of Pluto, passing roughly 12,500 kilometres above its surface. It returned the first detailed photographs and scientific measurements of Pluto and its moons, revealing mountains, glaciers, and a surprisingly active landscape on the dwarf planet.

The spacecraft did not land on Pluto; it performed a high-speed flyby and transmitted its observations gradually because of the enormous distance and slow communications link. New Horizons later continued into the Kuiper Belt and flew past the object Arrokoth on 1 January 2019, extending its exploration beyond Pluto.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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