This morning, the United States became the first country to reach Pluto — and the first country to explore the entire classical solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
NASA’s New Horizons interplanetary probe has been making its way to Pluto since January 19, 2006, and has been providing the world with the sharpest photos ever seen of our Solar System’s most prominent “dwarf planet.” Today, it made its closest approach to Pluto yet — about 8,000 miles — at around 07:49:57 EDT.
Courtesy of Dr. John P. Holdren, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House: This Photo of Pluto Is Worth Sharing and NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Categories: Astronomy, History, Science, Top stories, World history, World news
World News Forum 
Amazing News. To think that this photo traveled 3 billion miles and it is beautiful.
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Hello, Gen. This news reminds me once again that we human beings are creatures of enormous potential. I was struck by the article on the NASA web site about the Apollo-Soyuz era of Russian-American cooperation in the peaceful exploration of space. We still have a choice to make about our future as a species. I hope we make the right choice.
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Hello old friend. Excellent comment. I could not of said it better. I love this photo and reading it here first was impressive. Thank you for sharing this huge event. This picture traveled at the speed of light which by itself is amazing. I have seen other pictures today that were just as amazing. The White House sent out information and I actually thanked the researchers involved. I can imagine the excitement when these pictures started showing up. Everyone involved must be on an emotional high. I know I am.
This was timely News for me personally. We have so many decisions to make and this photo gave me hope again that we may make the right ones. It reminds me of a part of JFK’s speech.where he said, ” We need to keep in mind that our problems are man made – therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants”.
I think NASA is better at space exploration and corporation than any private corporations. We expect more from our government and hold them accountable. Well, we use to. That type of expertise and responsibility does not come cheap. We needed to be reminded of that fact. Again, thank you.
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It’s wonderful to see you feeling new hope and joy again. We are all just visitors here. I am grateful to be able to walk a while longer with you. There are still so many things for us to see!
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You made me tear up. A touching statement from one visitor to another. Thank you konigludwig.
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NASA is amazing, the engineers are amazing and one of these years, people of earth will find out that our little part of space…..isn’t the only one that has occupants. ooops!
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