After a nine-year, 3-billion-mile journey through the solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto on Tuesday morning.
The mission control center in Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory outside Baltimore erupted in applause as the spacecraft came within 7,800 miles of Pluto at 7:49 a.m. ET. For space geeks everywhere, emotions were running high as the highly anticipated moment played out.
The final countdown: NASA celebrates the #NewHorizons #PlutoFlyby A video posted by Andy Carvin (@acarvin) on Jul 14, 2015 at 4:53am PDT
Even my cold reporter's heart is melted by the #PlutoFlyby. Wow. What a day.— Miriam Kramer (@mirikramer) July 14, 2015
You made it!! Congratulations @NASANewHorizons on an incredible #PlutoFlyby - & thank you for the wonderful images pic.twitter.com/PwwzAx8ojz— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) July 14, 2015
Pic we stayed up all night making is now part of the family portrait. There's something in my eye (h/t @zuluagajorge) pic.twitter.com/XrbrdLqeke— Alex Parker (@Alex_Parker) July 14, 2015
Pluto be like: What was that?— Eric Berger (@chronsciguy) July 14, 2015
We threw a thing at the sky nine years ago and it's at Pluto RIGHT NOW. Humans are amazing. (Not me, I'm pretty useless.)— Barry Petchesky (@barryap1) July 14, 2015
9.5-year journey to a tiny keyhole in space, 3 bn miles from Earth. Love following #PlutoFlyBy http://t.co/Cc2WhaKcuV pic.twitter.com/32VTEHvKVu— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 14, 2015
Wave as New Horizons takes a selfie of the solar system. #PlutoFlyby #NASASocial pic.twitter.com/2A6fUnZLRN— John Grunsfeld (@SciAstro) July 14, 2015
blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">@NASA How about we call Pluto a planet again, thumbing our noses to the IAU, and really put a bang into this day? — William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) July 14, 2015
This is my fav non-Pluto pic. @reneehlozek, @RisaWechsler & me at moment of the #PlutoFlyby, huddled around my phone. pic.twitter.com/dIDbsm49Kl— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) July 14, 2015
Even the Philae Lander, part of the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft that made history when it landed on a comet earlier this year, tweeted congratulations to the team.
Way to go @NASANewHorizons you did it! Can’t wait to see what Pluto is like close up. Keep us posted on #PlutoFlyby https://t.co/3Aqbk9KhDx— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) July 14, 2015
During its closest approach the spacecraft was out of touch with mission control but is expected to sent data back to Earth later Tuesday. Over the course of its journey, the New Horizon's spacecraft has been snapping photos of Pluto and documenting details of the dwarf planet that were previously unknown to scientists.
New Horizon also flew by multiple planets during its journey, snapping detailed photos of Neptune and its large moon Triton.
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