History was made back in 2006 when the New Horizons spacecraft blasted off bound for the first exploration of Pluto by a spacecraft from Earth. After many years of travel, New Horizons arrived at Pluto in 2015 where it successfully carried out its mission to explore the tiny world and its moon, Charon. Moving on, the far traveller was rerouted to visit a small asteroid, 2014 MU69, orbiting the solar system far out beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. Nicknamed Ultima Thule, the asteroid will be the farthest object ever explored by a spacecraft from Earth. As can be seen in the image above, I was fortunate to witness the launch of New Horizons aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Click here to read about the start of the mission.