NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which got humanity’s first up-close look at Pluto, has “phoned home” from nearly three billion miles away confirming that its historic flyby of the dwarf planet was indeed a success, and ending a 21-hour period of gruelling suspense for scientists.
The New Horizons spacecraft phoned home to tell the mission team and the world it had accomplished the historic first-ever flyby of Pluto, NASA said today.
Confirmation of mission success came 13 hours after the actual flyby. The spacecraft had stopped transmitting to mission control as it had turned its antennas towards the dwarf planet to gather data during yesterday’s flyby.
The signal received confirms the probe has sailed pass its target successfully and it is now set to transmit a wealth of data - including several new high resolution images - from Pluto. New Horizons Flight Controllers cheered and hugged each other as the probe re-established contact with mission headquarters.
“I know today we’ve inspired a whole new generation of explorers with this great success, and we look forward to the discoveries yet to come,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “This is a historic win for science and for exploration. We’ve truly, once again raised the bar of human potential,” said Bolden.