Pluto flyby mission wakes up after long sleep nearly 6 billion miles from Earth

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A groundbreaking mission that explored Pluto and distant solar system objects in unprecedented detail has awakened from its longest sleep ever — and it’s 5.9 billion miles (9.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft went into a planned hibernation mode on August 7, 2025, and woke up