Atlas V 551 | New Horizons

Name: Atlas V 551 | New Horizons
Start: 2006-01-19T19:00:00.000Z
Location: Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

United Launch Alliance · Atlas V 551 · Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

United Launch Alliance's 1st launch · 1st this year · humanity's 4,751st orbital launch attempt

January 19, 2006Add to calendar

Success

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Window: Jan 19, 19:00 – Jan 19, 19:00 UTC

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New Horizons

New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth artificial object to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.

Robotic Exploration · Solar Escape Trajectory (Solar Esc.)

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News

NASA·Jul 7, 2026

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Wakes from Hibernation in Good Health

Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting science data gathered in the distant Kuiper Belt far beyond Pluto. On June 23, flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, confirmed New Horizons, […]

Pad — Space Launch Complex 41

125 launches from this pad · 1,122 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

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