by Alan Stern and Michael Vincent (NASA New Horizons Southwest Research Institute)
Abstract.
New Horizons is NASA’s mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper
Belt. After a dramatic, 26-year effort to develop and fly the mission,
New Horizons made the first exploration of Pluto in July of 2015. We
will recount the history of the mission, its historic encounter with
planet Pluto, the major scientific discoveries made to date, the viral
public reaction to this exploration, and the mission’s future plans for
its extended mission to explore the Kuiper Belt and its next flyby in
2019.
