The New Horizons Pluto mission is a big deal – Here are 7 reasons whyNew Horizons has been en route for nine years, traveling more than 3 billion miles. The flyby will be over in a matter of minutes, as the probe frantically takes hundreds of photos and collects data on Pluto’s atmosphere, geology, and moons. All this data will be enormously valuable to scientists as they seek to understand our solar system and how it formed billions of years ago. But it’d be a mistake to think that this mission is only exciting for scientists. New Horizons embodies a fundamental characteristic of our species: our urge for exploration, our desire to see a new world simply because it’s there. It represents the best of humanity, the heights of what we can accomplish through ingenuity, focus, and cooperation. More than anything, this mission is about broadening our horizons — taking in just a little bit more of the impossibly vast universe we live in. — New horizons NASA Pluto-video — Measurements — Fast & Light Tags:Bèta