Hello Pluto

It was almost 44 years ago that my two brothers and I were awoken in the early hours of the morning, and led downstairs to watch breaking news being shown on the television. The reason for being awoken at such an hour, man had just landed on the moon, and we were witnessing this feat. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" were the words spoken by Neil Armstrong, the commander of the mission, and the man who first stepped on the moon.

The whole world was all agog to see what was occurring, I at the time was 10 years old and like many was following the various space missions that had been building up to this momentous event. Now all these years later another almost as significant event takes place, as a probe sent from planet Earth over 9 years ago has travelled just over 3 billion miles and reached within 8 thousand miles of the planet Pluto. The data being collected could take up to 16 months to all be transmitted back to Mother Earth, and provide much information about Pluto. Here is the first photograph, released today:

It's a beautiful world. #PlutoFlyby

Posted by NASA Solar System Exploration on Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Exciting times indeed, and once again showing man's fascination with exploration into the unknown. Can't wait to see man landing on Mars, just hope that much anticipated feat occurs in the not too distant future.

 

Posted with Blogsy