Artist's concept of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft as it passes Pluto and Pluto's largest moon, Charon, in July 2015. The fastest spacecraft when it was launched, New Horizons lifted off in January 2006, and is currently entering the first of several approach phases that culminate on July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth.