Portal:Spaceflight/Selected picture/15
An Atlas V 551 rocket launches from SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on January 19, 2006, carrying the New Horizons probe, which would visit Pluto on July 14, 2015. It was the first launch with the 551 configuration, its launch augmented by five Aerojet AJ-60A solid-rocket motors, providing a total of 2.7 million lb-f of thrust at liftoff. New Horizons would achieve the fastest velocity at launch of any spacecraft, at 58,000 kilometres per hour (36,000 mph). It was the first spacecraft launched directly into a solar escape trajectory.