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New Horizons made the first flyby of Pluto

On this day · 14 July 2015
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After nine years and three billion miles, NASA's New Horizons swept past Pluto on July 14, 2015, the first spacecraft ever to do so.

Verified · NASA Science

At 11:49 UT on July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons probe streaked about 4,800 miles (7,800 km) above Pluto’s surface, the first spacecraft ever to study the distant world up close. Launched on January 19, 2006, it had crossed roughly three billion miles over more than nine years to keep the appointment.

New Horizons left Earth faster than any craft before it, leaving at about 36,400 mph and still racing past Pluto at more than 30,000 mph, which compressed the close encounter into a few frantic minutes. Cameras and instruments captured icy plains, towering mountains, and Pluto’s large moon Charon, plus the smaller satellites Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx.

The payoff arrived slowly. Beaming the full 6.25 gigabytes of encounter data back across the solar system took more than 15 months, finishing in October 2016. New Horizons then pressed on to explore objects deep in the Kuiper Belt.

4,800mi
closest approach
9yrs
journey time
3bn mi
distance flown

Sources & references

2 references

Well-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.

1 NASA Science Space agency “At 11:49 UT on July 14, 2015, New Horizons flew about 4,800 miles (7,800 kilometers) above the surface of Pluto, after launching Jan. 19, 2006 at the highest launch velocity ever attained by a human-made object relative to Earth.” science.nasa.gov ↗
2 University of Iowa Libraries — New Horizons Reaches Pluto academic library “On July 14, 2015, New Horizons flew within 7,800 miles of Pluto's surface, passing the dwarf planet at 30,800 miles per hour after launching January 19, 2006.” blog.lib.uiowa.edu ↗
✓ Last reviewed Jun 7, 2026

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