Which NASA spacecraft became the first to fly past Pluto, in July 2015?

Easy Easy difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Answer

New Horizons

The story behind the answer

New Horizons became the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto in July 2015.

NASA launched New Horizons on January 19, 2006, from Cape Canaveral. It used a gravity assist from Jupiter in 2007 and reached the Pluto system on July 14, 2015, traveling at roughly 14 kilometers per second relative to Pluto.

The spacecraft returned the first close-up images of Pluto and its moons, revealing mountains of water ice and a large heart-shaped region later named Tombaugh Regio. New Horizons then continued into the Kuiper Belt.

In 2019, it flew past Arrokoth, making the most distant planetary flyby ever completed at that time. New Horizons remains on an escape trajectory from the Solar System.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

Keep drawing

Easy Easy difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA mission carried astronauts around the Moon in 1970 after an oxygen-tank explosion forced an emergency return?

Answer

Apollo 13

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA mission became the first spacecraft to orbit the dwarf planet Ceres, entering orbit in 2015?

Answer

Dawn

Hard Hard difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA mission deliberately impacted comet Tempel 1 in 2005 to expose material beneath its surface?

Answer

Deep Impact

Easy Easy difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA rover landed in Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 to investigate whether the planet once had conditions suitable for life?

Answer

Curiosity

Hard Hard difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA spacecraft made the first flyby of an asteroid, passing Gaspra in 1991?

Answer

Galileo

Easy Easy difficulty.
Nasa Space Missions

Which NASA observatory launched in 2021 as the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built?

Answer

James Webb Space Telescope

Which NASA spacecraft became the first to fly past Pluto, in July 2015?