Which NASA mission first flew a spacecraft past the dwarf planet Pluto in 2015?

New Horizons was the first NASA mission to fly a spacecraft past Pluto, completing the encounter in July 2015.

NASA launched New Horizons on 19 January 2006. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Jupiter in 2007 to increase its speed and shorten the journey to the outer Solar System. It passed about 12,500 kilometers above Pluto’s surface on 14 July 2015.

New Horizons returned the first close-up images and scientific measurements of Pluto and its moons. Its photographs revealed mountains made of water ice, broad nitrogen-ice plains, and a heart-shaped region named Tombaugh Regio.

New Horizons did not enter orbit around Pluto; it performed a fast flyby because slowing down would have required much more fuel. The spacecraft later continued into the Kuiper Belt and flew past Arrokoth in 2019.