NASA's New Horizons is set to perform the first-ever flyby of Pluto, passing a little over 12,000 kilometres from the surface.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on track to sweep past
Pluto next week despite hitting a "speed bump" that temporarily halted science collection.
A computer overload prompted the spacecraft to partially shut down on July 4th - just days
before the first-ever close flyby of Pluto. Flight controllers managed to regain contact with the spacecraft in just over an hour and correct the tense situation, occurring after a relatively quiet journey of 5 billion kilometres and 9 1/2 years.
"We're on to Pluto!" NASA's director of planetary science, Jim Green, assured journalists
Monday.
Pluto next week despite hitting a "speed bump" that temporarily halted science collection.
A computer overload prompted the spacecraft to partially shut down on July 4th - just days
before the first-ever close flyby of Pluto. Flight controllers managed to regain contact with the spacecraft in just over an hour and correct the tense situation, occurring after a relatively quiet journey of 5 billion kilometres and 9 1/2 years.
"We're on to Pluto!" NASA's director of planetary science, Jim Green, assured journalists
Monday.
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