NASA Spacecraft Hurtles Toward Tiny, Icy World Beyond Pluto
LAUREL, Md. (AP) — A tiny, icy world a billion miles beyond Pluto is getting a New Year's Day visitor.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is set to fly past the mysterious orb nicknamed Ultima Thule at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday.
Maryland Lab Built, Controlling NASA Spacecraft's Journey Past Pluto
It will be humanity's most distant exploration of another world, coming 3 1/2 years after New Horizons' swing past Pluto.
This time, the drama will unfold 4 billion miles from Earth, so far away it will be 10 hours before flight controllers know whether the spacecraft survived the encounter.
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