New Horizons goes quiet for Pluto flyby

New Horizons’ flyby approximately 7,750 miles above the surface of the planet marks the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth.

According to NASA, the spacecraft currently is in data-gathering mode and not in contact with flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physical Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

Scientists are now waiting to find out whether New Horizons transmits a series of status updates to Earth that indicate the spacecraft survived the flyby. The transmission is expected shortly after 2100 EDT.

Once it reestablishes contact, it will take 16 months for New Horizons to send its cache of data – 10 years’ worth – back to Earth.

“Pluto was discovered just 85 years ago by a farmer’s son from Kansas, inspired by a visionary from Boston, using a telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Today, science takes a great leap observing the Pluto system up close and flying into a new frontier that will help us better understand the origins of the solar system.”