New Horizons phones home to tell 'Mom' it survived its epic Pluto flyby:
About 13 hours after its closest approach to Pluto, New Horizons phones home, signalling that it has survived its 49,000km/h (31,000mph) blitz through the planet’s system. The signal took four and a half hours to travel the 4.88bn km (3bn miles) back to Earth at light speed. With 99% of the data gathered during the encounter still on the spaceship, New Horizons’ survival was critical to the mission