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Surprised that nobody posted this: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33524589 New Horizons: Nasa spacecraft speeds past Pluto Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft has made the first visit to Pluto, speeding past at 14km per second. Earlier, the space agency released the most detailed picture yet as it hurtled towards the dwarf planet on Tuesday. The probe was set to grab more pictures and other data as it passed 12,500km from Pluto at 11:50 GMT (12:50 BST). Controllers got a last health status report, before the robotic craft turned its antenna away from the Earth to concentrate on its target. We have completed the initial reconnaissance of the Solar System Alan Stern, New Horizons chief scientist Only when New Horizons has its trove of images safely in its onboard memory will it call home again. This is not expected to happen until just after midnight (GMT) into Wednesday. It means there will be a long, anxious wait for everyone connected with the mission, as they hold out for a signal that will be coming from almost five billion km away. But scientists already have colour data from the approach and said they might release a new picture later on Tuesday. Images set to be released on Wednesday will be more than 10 times the resolution of those already published. New Horizons' flyby of 2,370km-wide Pluto is a key moment in the history of space exploration.