US Spacecraft Flies by Pluto After 9-year, 3B-mile Trip

More than nine years after its launch, a U.S. spacecraft sailed past Pluto on Tuesday, capping a 3-billion-mile (4.88-billion-km) journey to the solar system's farthest reaches, NASA said. The New Horizons craft flew by the distant "dwarf" planet at 7:49 a.m. after reaching a region beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt that was discovered in 1992. The achievement is the culmination of a 50-year effort to explore the solar system. "It's truly a mark in human...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mardi 14 juillet 2015