NASA's New Horizons sailed past Pluto in the distant reaches of the solar system on Tuesday, capping a journey of 3 billion miles that began nine and a half years ago.
NASA confirmed that New Horizons has "phoned home" and is in good health after its Pluto Fly-by.
NASA New Horizons tweeted: LOCKED! We have confirmation of a successful #PlutoFlyby.
Managers had estimated there was a 1-in-10,000 chance a debris strike could destroy New Horizons.
Members of the New Horizons science team react to seeing the spacecraft's last and sharpest image of Pluto before closest approach.
This NASA image received July 14, 2015 shows an image of Pluto and its moon, Charon, presented in false colors to make differences in surface material and features easy to see. (AFP)
NASA investigators Alan Stern and Will Grundy hold up an enlarged, out-dated postage stamp during the celebration of the spacecraft New Horizons flyby of Pluto. (Reuters)
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles (466,000 kilometers).
On July 11, 2015, New Horizons captured a world that is growing more fascinating by the day. For the first time on Pluto, this view reveals linear features that may be cliffs, as well as a circular feature that could be an impact crater.
Pluto and Charon display striking color and brightness contrast in this composite image from July 11, showing high-resolution black-and-white images colorized with Ralph data collected from the last rotation of Pluto.
