NASA said its New Horizons spacecraft will reach the dwarf planet Pluto on July 14. The spacecraft will send back high-resolution pictures that will help experts see the surface of the dwarf planet that was once the ninth planet in the solar system.

It was in 2006 Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union. Pluto has five moons and dwells in the Kuiper Belt.

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"Three months from today, NASA's New Horizons rocket will make the first investigation of the Pluto framework, the Kuiper Belt and the most distant shore of investigation ever came to by mankind," said Alan Stern, principal investigator on the New Horizons mission.

New Horizons, which is about the size of a grand piano, can travel 1.6 million kilometers a day propelled by its plutonium-driven engine.

New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft ever launched. It has traveled a longer time and farther away than any successful space mission in history - more than nine years and 3 billion miles, respectively.

The space probe is designed to gather information as quickly as possible, taking in data 100 times faster than it can process. While high-priority datasets will be sent back to Earth just before and after the flyby, the spacecraft will return data for an additional 16 months.

Stern is confident the space probe's effective suite of the seven instruments will give scientists their first magnificent view of Pluto. Scientists will also be very interested in confirming their theory the Plutonian moon Charon has seas.

Once the flyby of Pluto is completed, New Horizons will focus on the Kuiper Belt to study more about its planetary construction.

TagsNASA to Build the First Flyby of Pluto, New Horizons, Pluto, kuiper belt, rocket, flyby of Pluto, dwarf planet, space exploration, spacecraft