--- title: NASA Spacecraft New Horizons Crosses Neptune Orbit on Way to Pluto description: The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto canonical: https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-25T18:56:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:32.424Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Spacecraft Crosses Neptune Orbit on Way to Pluto og:description: The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto og:url: https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb6c794e00e1cb54/6986a0bf361760a35d90d967/voyager-2-space-nasa10.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 640 og:image:height: 360 og:image:alt: voyager-2-space-nasa10 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Spacecraft Crosses Neptune Orbit on Way to Pluto twitter:description: The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb6c794e00e1cb54/6986a0bf361760a35d90d967/voyager-2-space-nasa10.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Spacecraft Reaches Neptune on Its Way to Pluto > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b958ed26-1dc2-406a-abc1-478fe13ab109&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Phone Home: NASA's Call Center [Watch (HLS stream): Phone Home: NASA's Call Center](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uGQRvwuW.m3u8) (3:48)  _Published 2014-01-08. NASA has been communicating with astronauts and spacecraft via the Deep Space Network for over 50 years._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2014 6:56 PM UTC  A color image of Neptune's Great Dark Spot, accompanied by white high-altitude clouds taken from the Voyager 2 spacecraft. A color image of Neptune's Great Dark Spot, accompanied by white high-altitude clouds taken from the Voyager 2 spacecraft. NASA by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 25, 2014 6:56 PM UTC NASA’s Pluto-bound spacecraft has reached Neptune, officials said Monday. Passing through Neptune’s orbit is the last major crossing before the spacecraft, New Horizons, reaches its intended destination of Pluto. New Horizons is scheduled to be near Pluto on July 14, 2015\. In a coincidence of timing, the spacecraft’s crossing through Neptune’s orbit has occurred on the exact same day NASA’s Voyager 2 encountered Neptune 25 years ago. “It’s a cosmic coincidence that connects one of NASA’s iconic past outer solar system explorers, with our next outer solar system explorer,” Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said in a statement. “Exactly 25 years ago at Neptune, Voyager 2 delivered our ‘first’ look at an unexplored planet. Now it will be New Horizons’ turn to reveal the unexplored Pluto and its moons in stunning detail next summer on its way into the vast outer reaches of the solar system.” New Horizons is the size of a piano and launched in January 2006\. It reached Neptune’s orbit in a record of eight years and eight months. If the spacecraft’s journey continues successfully, it will be the first probe to reach Pluto. ## Transcript [00:01] >>On a rotating planet, a single antenna could never [00:04] keep in constant contact with a space craft at any great [00:07] distance. For that reason, the Deep Space Network has [00:11] three sets of antennas located about 120 degrees [00:15] apart around the globe; Madrid in Spain, Goldstone [00:19] in California, and Canberra in Australia. At [00:24] no point is the spacecraft vast in blackout. The [00:29] Deep Space Network first went online in December of [00:32] 1963 and has been in constant use ever since. [00:36] At the moment, it's communicating with more than 30 [00:39] Deep Space spacecraft. Spacecraft [00:43] and human beings have been traveling to the moon for [00:46] more than 50 years now and most of the images with [00:49] the small exception of the ones hand carried by [00:52] astronauts on traditional film were sent back through [00:56] the Deep Space Network. [00:57] >>Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle [01:01] has landed. [01:02] >>The original and iconic scenes of Neil Armstrong [01:05] stepping on the surface of the Sea of Tranquility, that [01:08] came through the DSN. [01:09] >>That's one small step for man, one giant [01:14] leap for mankind. But I was [ unk ] [01:18] -[ unk ] images of Apollo 17 taking off. [01:21] >>Three, two, one, ignition. [01:22] >>We're on our way, Houston. [01:24] >>And the first colored broadcast from the surface of [01:27] the moon. [01:28] >>Okay, Houston, I'm gonna [ unk ] chamber now. [01:32] >>Roger, out. [01:33] >>Richard Nixon may be the only president ever to [01:36] communicate by the Deep Space Network when he [01:38] spoke to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the [01:41] surface of the moon in July of 1969. [01:46] >>Hello Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone [01:49] from the Oval Room at the White House. [01:52] >>Transmissions from the moon to earth take about a [01:55] second and a half to get here, which is about as long [01:57] as it takes light to travel to 239, 000 miles [02:01] from here to there. For [02:05] Mars, it's a different story. The distance between Mars [02:09] and the Earth changes depending upon where they are [02:11] in their orbits. And when the Curiosity Rover landed in [02:14] 2012, the two planets were about 154 million [02:19] miles apart, which means it took close to 14 minutes [02:23] for a signal including an image to come from there to [02:26] here. -[ unk ] confirmed. Proceed to Mars. [02:34] >>Color images don't come in in full color. The color [02:37] has to be added later as data's impact through [02:40] different filters and at different frequencies is [02:43] interrupted to add hues and shades to what's originally [02:47] a black and white image. Over the course of time, the [02:50] quality of the photographs has gotten strikingly [02:54] sharper. The first images from Mars were grainy fly [02:57] over shots. By the time Curiosity landed in 2012, [03:02] the pictures that were coming home were in some [03:04] cases almost indistinguishable from high- quality [03:07] photography taken in the maizes and bad lands of the [03:11] southwest. A [03:21] network that was built in 1963 has been used by [03:25] generations of spacecraft that couldn't even have been [03:28] dreamed of back then. 50 years from now when the [03:32] DSN is 100 years old, it may be the source of [03:36] communications from human beings living and working [03:40] on Mars. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/"},"headline":"NASA Spacecraft Reaches Neptune on Its Way to Pluto","datePublished":"2014-08-25T18:56:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:32.424Z","description":"The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto","url":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Pluto","New Horizons"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb6c794e00e1cb54/6986a0bf361760a35d90d967/voyager-2-space-nasa10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb6c794e00e1cb54/6986a0bf361760a35d90d967/voyager-2-space-nasa10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"voyager-2-space-nasa10","caption":"Neptune's Great Dark Spot, accompanied by white high-altitude clouds as photographed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.","creditText":"NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/","name":"NASA Spacecraft Reaches Neptune on Its Way to Pluto"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Phone Home: NASA's Call Center","description":"NASA has been communicating with astronauts and spacecraft via the Deep Space Network for over 50 years.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uGQRvwuW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-08T18:10:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uGQRvwuW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/","duration":"PT3M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3176517/nasa-spacecraft-reaches-neptune-on-its-way-to-pluto/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```