• NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has become the first spacecraft to reach Pluto, capturing stunning images of the dwarf planet over 3 billion miles away!
• The probe shot past at more than 28,000 miles (45,000km) per hour, to get within 7,750 miles (12,000km) of Pluto’s surface.
• It’s reported that NASA has since confirmed it received a signal from the spacecraft to say it survived the flyby.
• Stephen Hawking highlighted the importance of the achievement in better understanding our solar system and said “We explore because we are human and we long to know”.
• New Horizons blasted off in January 1996, carrying the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – the astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930.
• Although Pluto has since been downgraded to “dwarf planet”, it is hoped that the flyby will see it restored to full planetary status.
• These images replace the tiny pixelated images we’ve had until now, and will help us to better understand the “last unexplored world in the solar system”. 

Read more:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33524589

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-14/nasa-new-horizons-spacecraft-makes-closest-approach-to-pluto/6620138

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/14/nasas-new-horizons-probe-makes-pluto-flyby-nine-years-after-leaving-earth

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