Fastest ever spaceship blasted off in 2006, passed the moon in 9 hours and took a decade to reach Pluto

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION], Ben Cooper

NewHorizonsDestination: Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft [atop a powerful Atlas V rocket] roared off its launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA in 2006 toward adventures in the distant Solar System.

The craft is the fastest spaceships ever launched by humans, having passed the Moon only nine hours after launch, and Jupiter only a year later.

After spending almost a decade crossing the Solar System, New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015.

Pluto, officially a planet when New Horizons launched, has never been visited by a spacecraft or photographed up close. After Pluto, the robot spaceship will visit one or more Kuiper Belt Objects orbiting the Sun even farther out than Pluto.

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