NASA spacecraft set for Pluto encounter

Washington, Jan 16: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has begun its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto. The spacecraft is entering the first of several approach phases that culminate July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet - 7.5 billion km from the Earth, the US space agency said in a statement. "NASA first mission to distant Pluto will also be humankind's first close-up view of this cold, unexplored world in our solar system," said Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division at the agency's Headquarters in Washington, DC. New Horizons lifted off in January 2006. It awoke from its final hibernation period last month and will soon pass close to Pluto, inside the orbits of its five known moons.