- New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA’s New Frontiers program. It was launched in 2006, becoming the first spacecraft to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015. A secondary mission contained a flyby and study of one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow, where it flew past 486958 Arrokoth in 2019. It was the first space probe to ever take high-resolution photographs of Pluto, in 2015.
- On January 15, 2015, the spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto.
- On July 14, 2015, at 11:49 UTC, it [New Horizons] flew 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto, which at the time was 34 AU from the Sun, making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet.
- Having completed its flyby of Pluto, New Horizons then maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth (then nicknamed Ultima Thule), which occurred on January 1, 2019, when it was 43.4 AU (6.49 billion km; 4.03 billion mi) from the Sun.