article_snippet.sent: (CNN)After more than nine years of traveling through the solar system, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sent back NASA's New Horizons spacecraft first color image of Pluto.
article_snippet.sent: But the probe will soon be beaming back much sharper images and a wealth of other information about Pluto's remote, unexplored corner of the solar system.
article_snippet.sent: This is pure exploration; we're going to turn points of light into a planet and a system of moons before your eyes," said Alan Stern, New Horizons' principal investigator.
article_snippet.sent: Launched in 2006, New Horizons' is nearing the crucial point in New Horizons' epic voyage of more than 3 billion miles.
article_snippet.sent: the probe is due to make the probe closest approach to Pluto on July 14.
article_snippet.sent: In an unprecedented flyby this July, our knowledge of what the Pluto system is really like will expand exponentially, and I have no doubt there will be exciting discoveries," said John Grunsfeld, an astronaut and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate.
article_snippet.sent: By discovering more about Pluto and Pluto moons, New Horizons will shed light on a little-known third zone of the solar system, beyond the rocky planets and the gas giants.
article_snippet.sent: New Horizons will use New Horizons array of cameras and other instruments to study Pluto's surface and atmosphere, as well as as well moons, which number at least five.
article_snippet.sent: Stern said the spacecraft's encounter was set to be "an exploration bonanza unparalleled in anticipation since the storied missions of Voyager in the 1980s.
highlights_snippet.sent: The New Horizons spacecraft captures image of Pluto and The New Horizons
highlights_snippet.sent: The New Horizons spacecraft's set to reveal new details as The New Horizons spacecraft nears the remote area of the solar system .