NASA's New Horizons, after an exciting ten-year journey, has reached its destination, offering humanity, for the first time, very clear photographs of a distant dwarf planet.
NASA's spacecraft reached its closest approach to Pluto on Tuesday, coming within 12,472 kilometers (7,750 miles) of its surface, making it the first spacecraft to explore a planet so far from Earth.
On this occasion, the famous physicist Stephen Hawking uploaded a congratulatory video to his Facebook page for NASA scientists.
Hawking states:
“I would like to congratulate the New Horizons team and NASA on the historic flyby of Pluto. It was the culmination of a decade-long mission, and I can’t wait to see what new information the New Horizons spacecraft will reveal about our distant relationship.” – SH
Watch the video
Stephen Hawking NASA StatementI would like to congratulate the New Horizons team and NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration for their historic flyby of Pluto. The culmination of a decade long mission, I can't wait to see what new information the New Horizons spacecraft will reveal about our distant relative. – SH
Posted by Stephen Hawking on Tuesday, July 14, 2015
