<Tr> <Td> Play media </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> (00: 50; released December 5, 2015) </Td> </Tr> <Table> Timeline of the New Horizons mission <Tr> <Th> Phase </Th> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Event </Th> <Th> Description </Th> <Th> References </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Preparation phase </Td> <Td> January 8, 2001 </Td> <Td> Proposal team meets face - to - face for the first time at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> February 5, 2001 </Td> <Td> New Horizons name chosen . </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 6, 2001 </Td> <Td> New Horizons proposal submitted to NASA . </Td> <Td> It was one of five proposals submitted, which were later narrowed to two for Phase A study: POSSE (Pluto and Outer Solar System Explorer) and New Horizons . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> November 29, 2001 </Td> <Td> New Horizons proposal selected by NASA . </Td> <Td> Started Phase B study . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> March 2002 </Td> <Td> Budget zeroed by Bush administration, later overridden </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> June 13, 2005 </Td> <Td> Spacecraft departed Applied Physics Laboratory for final testing . </Td> <Td> Spacecraft undergoes final testing at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> September 24, 2005 </Td> <Td> Spacecraft shipped to Cape Canaveral </Td> <Td> It was moved through Andrews Air Force Base aboard a C - 17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 17, 2005 </Td> <Td> Spacecraft ready for in rocket positioning </Td> <Td> Transported from Hazardous Servicing Facility to Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 11, 2006 </Td> <Td> Primary launch window opened </Td> <Td> The launch was delayed for further testing . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 16, 2006 </Td> <Td> Rocket moved onto launch pad </Td> <Td> Atlas V launcher, serial number AV - 010, rolled out onto pad . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 17, 2006 </Td> <Td> Launch delayed </Td> <Td> First day launch attempts scrubbed because of unacceptable weather conditions (high winds). </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 18, 2006 </Td> <Td> Launch delayed again </Td> <Td> Second launch attempt scrubbed because of morning power outage at the Applied Physics Laboratory . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Launch phase </Td> <Td> January 19, 2006 </Td> <Td> Successful launch at 19: 00 UTC </Td> <Td> The spacecraft was successfully launched after a brief delay due to cloud cover . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pluto pre-encounter phase </Td> <Td> April 7, 2006 </Td> <Td> Passes Mars orbit </Td> <Td> The probe passed Mars' orbit: 1.7 AU from Earth . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> June 13, 2006 </Td> <Td> Flyby of asteroid 132524 APL </Td> <Td> The probe passed closest to the asteroid 132524 APL in the Belt at about 101,867 km at 04: 05 UTC . Pictures were taken . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> November 28, 2006 </Td> <Td> First image of Pluto </Td> <Td> The image of Pluto was taken from a great distance . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 10, 2007 </Td> <Td> Navigation exercise near Jupiter </Td> <Td> Long - distance observations of Jupiter's outer moon Callirrhoe as a navigation exercise . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> February 28, 2007 </Td> <Td> Jupiter flyby </Td> <Td> Closest approach occurred at 05: 43: 40 UTC at 2.305 million km, 21.219 km / s . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> June 8, 2008 </Td> <Td> Passing of Saturn's orbit </Td> <Td> The probe passed Saturn's orbit: 9.5 AU from Earth . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 29, 2009 </Td> <Td> The probe becomes closer to Pluto than to Earth </Td> <Td> Pluto was then 32.7 AU from Earth, and the probe was 16.4 AU from Earth </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> February 25, 2010 </Td> <Td> Half mission distance reached </Td> <Td> Half the travel distance of 2.38 × 10 kilometers (1,480,000,000 mi) was completed . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> March 18, 2011 </Td> <Td> The probe passes Uranus's orbit </Td> <Td> This is the fourth planetary orbit the spacecraft crossed since its start . New Horizons reached Uranus's orbit at 22: 00 UTC . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 2, 2011 </Td> <Td> New Horizons draws closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft has ever been . </Td> <Td> Previously, Voyager 1 held the record for the closest approach . (~ 10.58 AU) </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> February 11, 2012 </Td> <Td> 10 AU distance </Td> <Td> New Horizons reaches the distance of 10 AU from the Pluto system, at around 4: 55 UTC . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> July 1, 2013 </Td> <Td> New Horizons captures its first image of Charon </Td> <Td> Charon is clearly separated from Pluto using the Long - Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> October 25, 2013 </Td> <Td> 5 AU distance </Td> <Td> New Horizons reaches the distance of 5 AU from the Pluto system . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> July 20, 2014 </Td> <Td> Photos of Pluto and Charon </Td> <Td> Images obtained showing both bodies orbiting each other, distance 2.8 AU . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> August 25, 2014 </Td> <Td> The probe passes Neptune's orbit </Td> <Td> This was the fifth planetary orbit crossed . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 7, 2014 </Td> <Td> New Horizons awakes from hibernation . </Td> <Td> NASA's Deep Sky Network station at Tidbinbilla, Australia received a signal confirming that it successfully awoke from hibernation . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 2015 </Td> <Td> Observation of Kuiper belt object 2011 KW 48 </Td> <Td> Distant observations from a distance of roughly 75 million km (~ 0.5 AU) </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 15, 2015 </Td> <Td> Start of Pluto observations </Td> <Td> New Horizons is now close enough to Pluto and begins observing the system . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> March 10--11, 2015 </Td> <Td> 1 AU distance </Td> <Td> New Horizons reaches the distance of 1 AU from the Pluto system . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> March 20, 2015 </Td> <Td> NASA invitation </Td> <Td> NASA invites the general public to suggest names to surface features that will be discovered on Pluto and Charon . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> May 15, 2015 </Td> <Td> Better than Hubble </Td> <Td> Images exceed best Hubble Space Telescope resolution . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Science phase </Td> <Td> July 14, 2015 </Td> <Td> Flyby of the Pluto system: Pluto, Charon, Hydra, Nix, Kerberos and Styx </Td> <Td> Flyby of Pluto around 11: 49: 57 UTC at 12,500 km, 13.78 km / s . Pluto is 32.9 AU from Sun . Flyby of Charon around 12: 03: 50 UTC at 28,858 km, 13.87 km / s . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> July 2015 to October 2016 </Td> <Td> Transmission of collected data back to Earth, and ongoing science discovery based on the observations </Td> <Td> The bit rate of the downlink is limited to 1--2 kb / s, so it took until October 25, 2016, to transmit all of the data . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> October 22--November 4, 2015 </Td> <Td> Trajectory correction maneuver </Td> <Td> Course adjustment towards the January 2019 flyby of (486958) 2014 MU 69 was performed in a series of four thruster firings of 22 minutes each . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> November 2, 2015 </Td> <Td> Observation of KBO 15810 Arawn </Td> <Td> Long - range observations from a distance of 170 million miles (1.8 AU), the closest ever for any Trans - Neptunian Object other than Pluto . More images were taken on April 7--8, 2016, at a range of 111 million miles (1.19 AU) as well . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> July 13--14, 2016 </Td> <Td> Observation of KBO 50000 Quaoar </Td> <Td> Long - range observations from a distance of 1.3 billion miles (14 AU) gives mission scientists a different perspective in order to study the light - scattering properties of Quaoar's surface . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> February 1, 2017 </Td> <Td> Trajectory correction maneuver </Td> <Td> A small course adjustment towards the January 2019 flyby of (486958) 2014 MU 69 was performed with a 44 - second thruster firing . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2017--2020 </Td> <Td> Observations of Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) </Td> <Td> The probe will have opportunities to perform observations of 10 to 20 KBOs visible from the spacecraft's trajectory after the Pluto system flyby . Heliosphere data collection is expected to begin . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 9, 2017 </Td> <Td> Trajectory correction maneuver </Td> <Td> This delays the arrival at (486958) 2014 MU 69 by a few hours, optimizing coverage by ground - based radio telescopes . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> December 23, 2017--June 4, 2018 </Td> <Td> Final hibernation period before the (KBO) (486958) 2014 MU 69 encounter . </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> August 2018--March 2019 </Td> <Td> Distant observations of at least a dozen distant KBOs </Td> <Td> Recovered by Subaru Telescope in 2014--2017, enabling New Horizons observations </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2014 MU69 pre-encounter phase </Td> <Td> August 13, 2018 </Td> <Td> Switch from spin mode to 3 - axis mode </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> August 16, 2018--December 24, 2018 </Td> <Td> Approach phase </Td> <Td> Optical navigation, search for hazardous material around (486958) 2014 MU 69 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> August 21, 2018 </Td> <Td> First attempts to image Kuiper belt object (486958) 2014 MU 69 </Td> <Td> No detection is expected in earnest before mid-September . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> October 3, 2018--December 2, 2018 </Td> <Td> Opportunities for trajectory correction maneuvers </Td> <Td> Maneuvers scheduled for October 3 and November 20, with backups on October 23 and December 2, respectively </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Science phase </Td> <Td> January 1, 2019 </Td> <Td> Flyby of Kuiper belt object (486958) 2014 MU 69 </Td> <Td> Flyby to occur at 05: 33 UTC Expected to be the outermost close encounter of any Solar System object . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> January 9, 2019 </Td> <Td> Switch from 3 - axis mode to spin mode </Td> <Td> This ends the (486958) 2014 MU 69 flyby, marking the beginning of the downlink phase . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2019 - 2020 </Td> <Td> Downlink of data from (486958) 2014 MU 69 flyby </Td> <Td> Predicted to take approximately 18 months </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> April 30, 2021 </Td> <Td> End of extended mission </Td> <Td> It is expected that the mission will be extended further if the spacecraft remains operational . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 2020s </Td> <Td> The probe may be able to flyby a second KBO </Td> <Td> The probe is approaching (486958) 2014 MU 69 along its rotational axis, which simplifies trajectory correction maneuvers, saving fuel that can be used to target another KBO </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> No earlier than 2026 </Td> <Td> Expected end of the mission, based on RTG plutonium decay . </Td> <Td> Heliosphere data collection expected to be intermittent if instrument power sharing is required . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Post-mission phase </Td> <Td> 2038 </Td> <Td> New Horizons will be 100 AU from the Sun . </Td> <Td> If still functioning, the probe will explore the outer heliosphere along with the Voyager spacecraft . </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Phase </Th> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Event </Th> <Th> Description </Th> <Th> References </Th> </Tr>

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