NASA Craft Regains Contact With Earth in Pluto Flyby

This is really cool.

At WSJ, "New Horizons Probe Regains Contact With Earth in Pluto Flyby":

The New Horizons spacecraft soared by Pluto Tuesday in a historic climax of a nine-year voyage to the edge of the solar system, as exuberant NASA scientists regained contact with the craft to begin downloading its trove of data on the previously unexplored world.

During its closest approach to Pluto on Tuesday, the probe had been incommunicado, with its antenna aimed away from Earth to carry out hundreds of automated observations.

At 9 p.m., ET, Tuesday, mission managers at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., which is operating the $720 million mission, received the signal that the spacecraft had survived its passage past Pluto and its five moons.

“We have a healthy spacecraft,” announced mission operations manager Alice Bowman, as flight controllers in the control room around her burst into applause. “We did it!”

Earlier on Tuesday, cheering engineers and scientists at the mission control center gave the probe a standing ovation when the countdown clock reached the moment of closest encounter at 7:49 a.m. ET, as the New Horizons spacecraft was expected to fly within 7,800 miles of Pluto, traveling at 31,000 miles an hour.

“Once again we have achieved a historic first,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “The United States is the first nation to reach Pluto, and with this mission has completed the initial survey of our solar system, a remarkable accomplishment that no other nation can match.”

Click through for all the incredible photos.