Pluto Ready For the Big Close-Up

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's New Horizons spacecraft gets up-close and personal with Pluto on Tuesday.

It's on track to zoom within 7,800 miles of the small icy world, which hasn't been explored until now.

Pluto was still considered a full-fledged planet when the spacecraft began its journey 9½ years ago. Since then, it has covered more than 3 billion miles to reach the now-dwarf planet.

Scientists won't know for hours if everything went well during the flyby. The spacecraft will be too busy to "phone home" until later in the day.

New Horizons has already beamed back the best-ever images of Pluto and big moon Charon on the far fringes of the solar system.