New Horizons 'Phones Home' to NASA After Historic Pluto Flyby

First Posted: Jul 15, 2015 09:55 AM EDT

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has officially phoned home after its flyby of Pluto. The communication shows that the craft is okay as it continues its historic trek to the Kuiper Belt.

"I know today we've inspired a whole new generation of explorers with this great success, and we look forward to the discoveries yet to come," said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, in a news release. "This is a historic win for science and for exploration. We've truly, once again raised the bar for human potential."

The "phone call" was actually a 15-minute series of status messages that were beamed back to mission operations. This call ended a suspenseful, 21-hour wait after New Horizons flew past Pluto.

"With the successful flyby of Pluto we are celebrating the capstone event in a golden age of planetary exploration," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "While this historic event is still unfolding-with the most exciting Pluto science still ahead of us-a new era of solar system exploration is just beginning. NASA missions will unravel the mysteries of Mars, Jupiter, Europa, and worlds around other suns in the coming years."

New Horizons is now continuing to fly toward the Kuiper Belt. There, thousands of objects hold clues as to how the solar system formed.

Since New Horizons is collecting so much data, it will take a staggering 16 months to send it all back to Earth. Once it does reach scientists, though, it's likely to shed some light on Pluto and its moons.

The mission is truly historic and will give scientists a whole new look at our solar system.

For more information about the mission, visit NASA's website.