SPACE: New Horizons Emerges Unscathed from Pluto Flyby. “At 8:53 P.M. Eastern time, the New Horizons control center here received radio confirmation that the space probe had made—and survived—its closest approach to Pluto, passing 12,500 kilometers above the planet’s sunlit hemisphere. The transmission was the first since 11:30 P.M. ET last night, ending a radio silence imposed so that the spacecraft could avoid interrupting its observations.”