范貝

The USA sent a spacecraft① to Pluto on January 19， 2006. Bad weather delayed② it from Cape Canaveral， Florida by two days. The spacecraft will travel 3 billion miles over about 10 years to Pluto.

Speeding Through Space

The spacecraft moved from Earth at about 36，000 miles per hour. It passed by the Earth's moon in nine hours！ Even though the spacecraft is fast， it won't reach Pluto until 2015.

When the spacecraft reaches Jupiter， it will move around the planet to pick up speed. If all goes well， the spacecraft will travel at the speed of 47，000 miles per hour on its way to Pluto.

Probing③ Pluto

The spacecraft probe is the size of a baby piano. It will be the first to visit Pluto and its largest moon， Charon. The plan is for the probe to take the first up-close pictures of Pluto and its moons.

Planet Pluto？

The spacecraft probe is drawing attention towards whether Pluto should keep its title as a planet. Why is Pluto's title in the solar system being talked about？ Last year， scientists discovered an object④ that is larger than Pluto. Scientists said the object may be a new planet. They even gave it a name： 2003 UB313.