Editing Space exploration (section)

===Pluto===
{{main|Pluto#Exploration}}The [[dwarf planet]] Pluto presents significant challenges for spacecraft because of its great distance from Earth (requiring high velocity for reasonable trip times) and small mass (making capture into orbit difficult at present). ''[[Voyager 1]]'' could have visited Pluto, but controllers opted instead for a close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan, resulting in a trajectory incompatible with a Pluto flyby. ''[[Voyager 2]]'' never had a plausible trajectory for reaching Pluto.<ref name="jpl-faq">{{cite web |url=http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html |title=Voyager Frequently Asked Questions |access-date=8 September 2006 |publisher=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |date=14 January 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721050617/http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html |archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref>

After an intense political battle, a mission to Pluto dubbed ''[[New Horizons]]'' was granted funding from the United States government in 2003.<ref name="s4p">{{cite web |last=Britt |first=Robert Roy |date=26 February 2003 |title=Pluto mission gets green light at last |url=http://www.space4peace.org/articles/plutomissiongetsok.htm |access-date=26 December 2013 |work=space.com |publisher=Space4Peace.org}}</ref> ''New Horizons'' was launched successfully on 19 January 2006. In early 2007 the craft made use of a [[gravity assist]] from [[Jupiter]]. Its closest approach to Pluto was on 14 July 2015; scientific observations of Pluto began five months prior to closest approach and continued for 16 days after the encounter.