“This is truly a hallmark in human history, [and] It’s been an incredible voyage.” That’s what NASA science mission chief  John Grunsfeld had to say this morning as the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, relaying the clearest photographs ever taken of the former planet. Forty years after the Mariner 4 spacecraft delivered high resolution photos of Mars, the United States is now officially the first country to “visit” every planet in our solar system. From the Seattle Times:

Even better pictures will start “raining” down to the ground beginning Wednesday, Stern said, “a data waterfall.” But the planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, cautioned everyone to “stay tuned” until New Horizons phones home Tuesday night. Only then will anyone know whether the spacecraft survived its passage through the Pluto system, five moons included.

 “Hopefully it did, and we’re counting on that,” Stern told journalists. “But there’s a little bit of drama because this is true exploration. New Horizons is flying into the unknown.”

It takes 4½ hours for signals to travel one-way between New Horizons and flight controllers, the speed of light. The last time controllers heard from the spacecraft was Monday night, according to plan, and everything looked good.

The New York Times created this very cool mini-doc about the scientists behind the spacecraft’s nine-year journey. Watch it below.

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Top Photo via Flickr