CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer CCO - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0) This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage conditions may apply

New Horizons will be the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system. It was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida, on January 19, 2006, and conducted a Jupiter flyby 13 months later to gain further acceleration. New Horizons will make its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015.

The half-ton spacecraft contains scientific instruments to map the surface geology and composition of Pluto and its three moons, investigate Pluto's atmosphere, measure the solar wind, and assess interplanetary dust and other particles. After it passes Pluto, controllers plan to fly the spacecraft by one or two Kuiper Belt objects. New Horizons carries several souvenirs from Earth, including some of the remains of Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997), discoverer of Pluto, and a piece of SpaceShipOne.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory donated this to the Museum in 2008.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Key Accomplishment(s) First Spacecraft to Explore Pluto Brief Description New Horizons is the first spacecraft to explore Pluto, its moons, and the icy bodies of the Kuiper Belt. It launched in 2006 and arrived at Pluto in the summer of 2015. Country of Origin United States of America Type MODELS-Uncrewed Spacecraft & Parts Dimensions 3-D: 274.3 × 213.4 × 198.1cm, 210.9kg (9 ft. × 7 ft. × 6 ft. 6 in., 465lb.)
 Materials Wood, mylar, and plastics
 Alternate Name New Horizons (Full-Scale Model) Inventory Number A20080394000 Credit Line Gift of John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Open Access (CCO)
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use. You may also like Six Space Missions to Watch For October 18, 2018 Nap Time for New Horizons April 13, 2017 Earth is Shaping the Shrinking Moon September 18, 2015 New Horizons: The Gift That Keeps Giving August 21, 2015 First Mission to Pluto: The Difficult Birth of New Horizons July 10, 2015 Vulcan? But that’s not logical… February 26, 2013