New Horizons is a NASA space probe launched on 19 January 2006 from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas V rocket, on a mission to study Pluto and the Kuiper belt. It was one of the fastest spacecraft ever sent from Earth, and it passed Jupiter in 2007, using the planet's gravity to gain speed. In July 2015 it flew past Pluto, revealing mountains of water ice, a large heart-shaped plain, a thin atmosphere and surprising geological activity. It then flew by the small Kuiper belt object Arrokoth on 1 January 2019, the most distant object explored up close at the time. The mission was led by Alan Stern and built and operated with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The craft continues to travel through the outer solar system.
Before and after
- 5 January 2006Discovery of Jarnsaxa
- 5 January 2006Discovery of S/2006 S 3
- 5 January 2006Discovery of Surtur
- 5 January 2006Discovery of Loge
- 19 January 2006Launch of New Horizons
- 15 March 2006Founding of United Nations Human Rights Council
- from 24 March 2006 to 16 January 2011Premiere of Hannah Montana
- 23 April 2006Release of Spotify
- 28 April 2006Release of Google Translate
More in Universe & space
- 1 May 1949Discovery of Nereid
- 20 August 1977Launch of Voyager 2
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Nix
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.