--- title: Pluto: See Closest Photo Yet of Pluto in NASA Spacecraft Flyby description: NASA's New Horizon's spacecraft sent back images of the dwarf planet, featuring a heart canonical: https://time.com/3956938/new-horizons-pluto-flyby/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-14T14:27:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:42:49.000Z article:section: Science og:title: See Closest Photo Yet of Pluto in NASA Spacecraft Flyby og:description: A new image of Pluto shows what appears to be a heart og:url: https://time.com/3956938/new-horizons-pluto-flyby/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2901fff2ed690730/69885abb5f570ffd5fb1c6ed/pluto-heart-high-res.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: pluto heart high res og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Closest Photo Yet of Pluto in NASA Spacecraft Flyby twitter:description: A new image of Pluto shows what appears to be a heart twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2901fff2ed690730/69885abb5f570ffd5fb1c6ed/pluto-heart-high-res.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Closest Photo Yet of Pluto in NASA Spacecraft Flyby > Sponsored content. 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A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home_  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:42 AM UTCPublished: Jul 14, 2015 2:27 PM UTC  NASA  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:42 AM UTCPublished: Jul 14, 2015 2:27 PM UTC **Correction appended, July 14, 2015** After nine-and-a-half years, 3 billion miles and heart-stopping drops in communication, the moment has arrived: New Horizons, NASA’s spacecraft designed to explore the furthest reaches of our solar system, [passed Pluto at 7:49 a.m. ET on Tuesday](http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News%5FID=49503&linkId=15514645). “It should be a day of incredible pride,” Charlie Bolden, NASA’s chief administrator, announced on NASA TV amid jubilant applause and cheers. > [](https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/620343718650904576) The spacecraft’s travel was meticulously planned and on point: it arrived one minute before scheduled arrival and used a “36-by-57 mile window in space” to get to its destination—a feat NASA compared to “the equivalent of a commercial airliner arriving no more off target than the width of a tennis ball.” At its closest approach, New Horizons was about 7,750 miles above Pluto’s surface, approximately the distance between New York and Mumbai. New Horizons’ journey to Pluto had reached a turning point last week when [images](http://time.com/3945135/pluto-spots/) of its nearing proximity to the planet arrived, offering scientists glimpses of a mysterious planet astronomers know very little about. With New Horizons’ approach, the United States has solidified its role as a [leader in space exploration](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/14/nasas-new-horizons-probe-makes-pluto-flyby-nine-years-after-leaving-earth), becoming the first and only country to have sent a spacecraft to every planet in the solar system. The images of the dwarf planet are stunning and feature what many astronomy geeks have dubbed a heart in the lower hemisphere, perhaps a crater. > [](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/620936275336368128) > [](https://twitter.com/CosmicThespian/status/620949522416566272) New Horizons has thus far traveled 3 billion miles. **Correction**: The original version of this story misstated the time New Horizons passed Pluto on Tuesday. 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