January 19, 2006 - The Day We Reached Pluto

Eight-year-old Evan Morales sat cross-legged on the living-room carpet, his Pluto T-shirt bunched at the shoulders and a stack of astronomy books fanned out like a galaxy around him. The TV screen flickered with the bright Florida sun and the towering silhouette of an Atlas V rocket—NASA’s New Horizons.

His mother peeked in from the kitchen. “You ready, space ranger? They’re launching soon.”

“I’ve been ready since last night,” Evan said without looking away. “This is it.” He touched the screen lightly. “Pluto’s finally getting its turn.”

His dad dropped onto the couch with a mug of coffee. “No one loves that frozen little world as much as you do, kiddo.”

Evan spun around, eyes wide. “It’s not just frozen! It has a heart-shaped glacier—well, they think so—and mountains, and maybe caves made of ice, and we don’t even know what else because no one’s ever been close enough!” His words tripped over each other. “But now we’ll see everything.”

On the TV, the NASA commentator’s voice grew sharper.
“T-minus 10… nine… eight…”

Evan scooted closer, hugging a plush Pluto that was missing one button eye.

His mom sat beside him. “Nervous?”

“Not nervous…” He swallowed. “Just… it’s like Pluto’s been waiting. And now someone’s finally coming to visit.”

The rocket engines ignited—brilliant, roaring, shaking even the living-room walls through the speakers.

“Liftoff of New Horizons! A journey to the outer edges of our solar system begins!”

Evan gasped so hard he forgot to breathe. New Horizons rose in a pillar of fire, cutting into the blue sky.

“It’s going!” he shouted. “It’s really going! That’s the fastest thing humans have ever launched!”

His dad ruffled his hair. “You’ll tell your kids about this someday.”

Evan didn’t answer. His face softened into something quieter, deeper. “Do you think Pluto knows?” he asked.

His parents traded a look.
“Knows what?” his mom said gently.

“That we didn’t forget it.” Evan hugged his Pluto plush to his chest. “People say it’s not a planet anymore… but to me, it always was.” He pointed to the streak of smoke trailing across the TV screen. “And now someone’s going to see it. For real. Like it matters.”

His dad leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “It matters. And so does the kid who reminds everyone why.”

Evan’s eyes stayed glued to the rocket until the camera switched to a map of its projected path—Jupiter in one year, Pluto in nine.

“Nine years…” he whispered. “I’ll be seventeen.”

His mom squeezed his hand. “Pluto will still be waiting.”

Evan finally smiled—the kind that made his cheeks dimple. “Then I’ll be waiting too.”

The rocket became a tiny glow on the screen, then disappeared into the endless sky. But Evan kept watching long after, imagining the little spacecraft racing toward the faraway world he loved.

A world he knew, someday, he’d see for himself.

Seventeen-year-old Evan Morales sat on the edge of his bed, the glow of the TV reflected in the lenses of his glasses. His room looked different now—posters of rock bands had taken up some wall space—but Pluto still dominated everything.

A model solar system hung from the ceiling, with Pluto carefully added on its own wire.
His old plush Pluto, still missing a button eye, sat proudly on a shelf.

“Evan!” his mom called from downstairs. “It’s starting!”

He rushed down, taking the steps two at a time. His parents were already in the living room, just like they had been nine years earlier. His dad grinned when he saw him.

“Space ranger,” he said. “Ready for the moment you’ve been talking about since third grade?”

Evan swallowed. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”

The NASA feed filled the screen. The commentator spoke with barely contained excitement:

“We are moments away from receiving the closest images of Pluto ever taken by humankind.”

Evan sat forward, elbows on his knees. “Nine years,” he whispered. “Nine whole years.”

His mom nudged him gently. “Just think—Pluto’s been waiting, just like you.”

The first image came through—a smooth, clear high-resolution view.

A pale world.
A bright, enormous heart-shaped glacier.
Mountains of ice rising like the Rockies.
A place far stranger and more beautiful than anyone had predicted.

Evan’s breath stuttered. “It’s… it’s real,” he whispered. “It really has a heart.”

His dad’s voice was soft. “Looks like your old theory was right.”

Evan’s eyes blurred with tears. “Do you think… Pluto’s saying something back?”

His mom leaned her head on his shoulder. “What do you think?”

Evan stared at the glowing heart on the screen—the one he had drawn over and over as a kid, imagining what Pluto might look like.

“I think…” He took a shaky breath. “I think it’s saying it remembers.”

The room fell quiet except for the soft hum of the TV.

Evan stood and walked to the window, looking up at the dark evening sky, at the tiny place where Pluto would be—too far to see, but closer to him now than ever.

He touched the glass.
“Someday,” he whispered. “I’m coming for you.”

And for the first time, it didn’t feel like a dream.
It felt like a promise.

Historical Synopsis

On January 19, 2006, NASA launched the New Horizons spacecraft aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, marking the first mission ever sent to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Designed as part of NASA’s New Frontiers program, New Horizons aimed to complete humanity’s initial reconnaissance of the classical nine planets by studying the last unexplored world in the original solar system lineup (Stern 23–24). Traveling at speeds exceeding 36,000 miles per hour, it became the fastest spacecraft ever launched (NASA, “New Horizons”).

New Horizons performed a gravity-assist flyby of Jupiter in 2007, which increased its speed and allowed the mission to conduct additional scientific observations of Jupiter’s atmosphere and moons (Weaver et al. 40–42). After nearly a decade-long journey across the outer solar system, the spacecraft successfully executed its historic Pluto flyby on July 14, 2015, capturing the first detailed images of the dwarf planet’s mountains, nitrogen ice plains, and the iconic heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio (NASA, “First Pluto Flyby”). The mission transformed scientific understanding of Pluto, revealing it to be a geologically active and complex world rather than a frozen relic.

New Horizons continues traveling deeper into the Kuiper Belt, conducting studies of additional icy bodies and contributing to ongoing research into the origins of the solar system.

^{This story is based on documented historical records and contemporaneous accounts}

Works Cited

NASA. “New Horizons Launches on Journey to Pluto.” NASA, 19 Jan. 2006, https://www.nasa.gov.

NASA. “First Pluto Flyby Shows Icy Mountains and a Young Surface.” NASA, 2015, https://www.nasa.gov.

Stern, S. Alan. The Pluto System: The New Horizons Mission Results. University of Arizona Press, 2021.

Weaver, Harold A., et al. “The New Horizons Jupiter Flyby: A Preview of the Pluto System Encounter.” Science, vol. 318, no. 5848, 2007, pp. 40–43.