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
Famous quotes containing the words key, mission and/or dates:
“The knight slew the dragon,
The lady was gay,
They rode on together,
Away, away.”
—Unknown. This Is the Key (l. 38–41)
“... [a] girl one day flared out and told the principal “the only mission opening before a girl in his school was to marry one of those candidates [for the ministry].” He said he didn’t know but it was. And when at last that same girl announced her desire and intention to go to college it was received with about the same incredulity and dismay as if a brass button on one of those candidate’s coats had propounded a new method for squaring the circle or trisecting the arc.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (1859–1964)
“Nothing so dates a man as to decry the younger generation.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)