NASA-s New Horizons probe flew by Pluto this morning, sending back history's first up-close looks at the vast freezing-cold world.  Closest approach came at 7:49 a.m.  EDT.  To celebrate, NASA gave out the latest photo of Pluto. It showed a reddish world with an amazing heart-shaped feature on its surface. After today's close encounter, all the nine solar system's traditionally recognized planets have now been visited by a spaceship-a huge project begun in 1962 when NASA's Mariner 2  probe flew past Venus,  a  planet  in  the solar system.  More than  l,200 scientists, NASA guests and important persons, including 200 reporters, watched the flyby live at New Horizons'  mission control center. That close encounter has been a long time coming. The$723 million New Horizons mission launched in January 2006 but began taking shape in 1989.  "New Horizons is'a capstone mission'," Glen Fountain, mission project manager told Space, com. "It is the first completion of the observations of our solar system. It-s giving us a new idea about how we human beings fit into the universe." New Horizons "faced a crazy number of challenges," Stern, a driving force behind New Horizons said, "So many people stuck with this for so long. They got knocked down; they stood up.  They got knocked down again; they stood up again." In a coincidence, today's close approach falls on the 50th anniversary of the first flyby of Mars, another planet, which was completed by NASA-s Mariner 4 spaceship. There are no longer nine officially recognized planets, of course. The International Astronomical Union regarded Pluto as "a dwarf planet" in 2006 in a decision that remains controversial today. Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?
Ideas still vary in the identity of Pluto. Only scientists could watch the flyby live. Mars is the first planet visited by a spaceship. New Horizons mission aimed to observe the solar system.