For 9-1/2 years, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sped through space at more than 30,000 mph on a one-way trip to Pluto. But when it finally gets to its distant destination, it has no plans to slow down.
"We are just flying by, so the spacecraft does not go into orbit," said New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern. "We do a deep dive into the Pluto system and then we'll go further out in the solar system to explore some more."
The time of closest approach, when the spacecraft will be just 7,800 miles from the surface of Pluto, is approximately 4:50 a.