Target Pluto: fastest spaceship set for epic encounter with our remotest planet
by Robin McKie, science editor from on (#6V8A)
Nasa's New Horizons spaceship has travelled billions of miles in nine years to answer astronomers' questions about the tiny world
It is the fastest spaceship ever launched and has been hurtling towards its target at a staggering 36,000mph for the past nine years. But now Nasa engineers are preparing to put their robot craft, New Horizons, on its final course - to the tiny world of Pluto.
Scheduled to reach its target on 14 July, New Horizons has already covered more than three billion miles since its launch, a distance that means signals from the spacecraft now take about 4.5 hours to reach our planet.
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