US spacecraft whizzes past Pluto in historic flyby

An unmanned NASA spacecraft whizzed by Pluto on Tuesday and survived its close encounter with the distant dwarf planet after a journey of three billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) and nearly 10 years.

Moving faster than any spacecraft ever built at a speed of about 30,800 miles per hour, the nuclear-powered New Horizons -- about the size of a baby grand piano -- snapped pictures of Pluto as it hurtled by on auto-pilot.

The photos will reveal details of Pluto never seen before in the history of space travel.

Some 13 hours after the flyby, applause broke out in mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Center outside the US capital Washington, as the spacecraft made its "phone-home" contact with Earth and all systems were reported to be intact.

"We have a healthy spacecraft," said mission operations manager Alice Bowman.

"We are outbound from Pluto."

The confirmation eased anxiety among scientists who were waiting all day to find out if the $700 million New Horizons survived the chaotic Kuiper Belt, the region beyond Neptune that Stern has described as a "shooting gallery" of cosmic debris.

NASA had said there was a one in 10,000 chance that the spacecraft could be lost, and all it would take would be "a collision with a particle as small as a grain of rice."

'Truly amazing'

The spacecraft passed a bit closer to Pluto's surface than initially planned, 7,750 miles -- or about the distance from New York to Mumbai, India -- and may have been one minute earlier than the 1149 GMT target time, the US space agency said.

"It is truly amazing that humankind can go out and explore these worlds. And to see Pluto be revealed just before our eyes -- it is just fantastic," Bowman said.

New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said scientists can now look forward to a "16-month data waterfall" that will help scientists write whole new textbooks about Pluto.

"We have completed the initial reconnaissance of the solar system, an endeavor started under president (John F.) Kennedy more than 50 years ago, continuing today under President (Barack) Obama," Stern told reporters.

Obama cheered the mission on Twitter.

"Congratulations to @NASANewHorizons on completing a three-billion-mile journey," the US president wrote.

'Hallmark in human history'

Never before has a spacecraft ventured into the Kuiper Belt, and New Horizons has been on its way there for more than nine years.

The spacecraft launched in 2006, the same year that Pluto was downgraded to "dwarf planet" status due to the celestial body's small size.

New Horizons is the first spacecraft to fly past Pluto and its seven scientific instruments aim to reveal up-close details of the surface, geology and atmosphere of Pluto and its five moons.

Already, scientists have learned from New Horizons that Pluto is 12-18 miles larger than previously thought, with a radius of 736 miles.

Scientists have also confirmed the existence of a polar ice cap on Pluto and found nitrogen escaping from Pluto's atmosphere.

"This is truly a hallmark in human history," said the head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld.

The spacecraft has enough fuel to carry on its exploration for years to come.

Stern has said he plans to ask NASA for funding to continue using New Horizons beyond its Pluto mission.

In the meantime, the most detailed pictures yet of Pluto's surface are to be released by the US space agency on Wednesday, once they are downlinked from New Horizons.