New Horizons’ Long Trip to Pluto

[Voiceover] On January 19, 2006, the fastest spacecraft

ever launched, shot off from earth.

Its destination, Pluto.

So far away that humans have only ever seen it

as a teeny tiny blurry dot.

Three billion miles and almost a decade later,

New Horizons will finally wiz by Pluto on July 14th.

The seven instruments packed into its piano sized body

will jump into action, mapping Pluto's never before

seen surface and measuring its atmosphere.

The blurry dot will be blurry no more.

Pluto's moons, even undiscovered ones,

will come into focus too.

When New Horizons launched, Pluto had one moon.

Now it has five, that we know of.

Pluto is so far away, and communication so slow,

that all the data will take a year

and a half just to download.

And you thought your service was bad.

New Horizons job isn't over once it reaches Pluto.

Assuming there won't be any technical glitches

it'll keep going into the Kuiper Belt,

which is strewn with icy bodies.

After Pluto, scientists will choose an object

in the frozen mine field for New Horizons to visit.

And it could keep going for decades,

flying through the outer fringes of our solar system.

And then one day, it'll go dark. We'll miss ya, buddy!