Key Mission Dates
| Next event | Date | Event | Description | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 8, 2001 | New Horizons selected by NASA. | After a three month concept study before submission of the proposal, two design teams were competing: POSSE (Pluto and Outer Solar System Explorer) and New Horizons. | ||
| June 13, 2005 | Spacecraft departed Applied Physics Laboratory for final testing. | Spacecraft undergoes final testing at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). | ||
| September 24, 2005 | Spacecraft shipped to Cape Canaveral | It was moved through Andrews Air Force Base aboard a C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft. | ||
| December 17, 2005 | Spacecraft ready for in rocket positioning | Transported from Hazardous Servicing Facility to Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41. | ||
| January 11, 2006 | Primary launch window opened | The launch was delayed for further testing. | ||
| January 16, 2006 | Rocket moved onto launch pad | Atlas V launcher, serial number AV-010, rolled out onto pad. | ||
| January 17, 2006 | Launch delayed | First day launch attempts scrubbed because of unacceptable weather conditions (high winds). | ||
| January 18, 2006 | Launch delayed again | Second launch attempt scrubbed because of morning power outage at the Applied Physics Laboratory. | ||
| January 19, 2006 | Successful launch at 14:00 EST (19:00 UTC) | The spacecraft was successfully launched after brief delay due to cloud cover. | ||
| April 7, 2006 | Passing of Mars's orbit | The probe passed Mars's orbit: 1.7 AU from Earth. | ||
| June 13, 2006 | Flyby of asteroid 132524 APL | The probe passed closest to the asteroid 132524 APL in the Belt at about 101,867 km at 04:05 UTC. Pictures were taken. | ||
| November 28, 2006 | First image of Pluto | The image of Pluto was taken from a great distance, rendering the dwarf planet faint. | ||
| January 10, 2007 | Navigation exercise near Jupiter | Long distance observations of Jupiter's outer moon Callirrhoe as a navigation exercise. | ||
| February 28, 2007 | Jupiter flyby | Closest approach occurred at 05:43:40 UTC at 2.305 million km, 21.219 km/s. | ||
| June 8, 2008 | Passing of Saturn's orbit | The probe passed Saturn's orbit: 9.5 AU from Earth. | ||
| December 29, 2009 | The probe became closer to Pluto than to Earth | Pluto was then 32.7 AU from Earth, and the probe was 16.4 AU from Earth | ||
| February 25, 2010 | Half mission distance reached | Half the travel distance of 1,480,000,000 miles (2.38×109 km) was completed. | ||
| March 18, 2011 | The probe passed Uranus's orbit | This is the fourth planetary orbit the spacecraft crossed since its start. New Horizons reached Uranus's orbit at 22:00 GMT. | ||
| December 2, 2011 | New Horizons drew closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft has ever been. | Previously, Voyager 1 held the record for the closest approach. (~10.58 AU) | ||
| February 11, 2012 | New Horizons was 10 AU from Pluto. | Happened at around 4:55 UTC. | ||
| October 2013 | New Horizons will be 5 AU from Pluto. | |||
| August 24, 2014 | The probe will pass Neptune's orbit | This will be the fifth planetary orbit the spacecraft crosses. | ||
| February 2015 | Observations of Pluto begin | New Horizons is now close enough to Pluto for the main science mission to begin. | ||
| May 5, 2015 | Better than Hubble | Images exceed best Hubble Space Telescope resolution. | ||
| July 14, 2015 | Flyby of Pluto, Charon, Hydra, Nix, S/2011 P 1 and S/2012 P 1 | Flyby of Pluto around 11:47 UTC at 13,695 km, 13.78 km/s. Flyby of Charon, Hydra, Nix, S/2011 P 1 and S/2012 P 1 around 12:01 UTC at 29,473 km, 13.87 km/s. | ||
| 2016–2020 | Possible flyby of one or more Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) | The probe will perform flybys of other KBOs, if any are in the spacecraft's proximity. | ||
| 2026 | Expected end of mission | According to NASA, the Dwarf Planets mission will come to an end. |
Read more about this topic: New Horizons
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