--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Spacecraft Reaches Neptune on Its Way to Pluto ## 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. ```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":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}] ```