Soon the historic first era of planetary exploration will enter its final chapter when NASA’s New Horizons mission begins its exploration of Pluto and its moons. New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft in history travelling at an Earth-relative speed of about 10.10 miles per second (16.26 km per second), or 36,373 mph (58,536 km/h). It was launched on January 19, 2006. Beginning July 14, 2015, New Horizons will start beaming back high resolution photos (and invaluable data) of the dwarf planet’s surface for the first time in human history. For the latest updates from the mission you can visit NASA.