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NASA and Charon are seen in this image captured by New Horizons. NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

It's a historic moment that happened so fast that you may have missed it and one you definitely couldn't feel on Earth. Early Tuesday morning, the NASA New Horizons mission completed its Pluto flyby. For the space agency, the close approach completed the first initial observation of our solar system.

New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday. The spacecraft was 7,800 feet from the dwarf planet.

Pluto was once a planet, rubbing shoulders with Neptune, hanging out with gas giant Jupiter and marveling at the rings of Saturn. That all changed when astronomers discovered an object of a similar size and mass as Pluto in its neighborhood. The discovery of Eris changed the understanding of the solar system and led to a new classification of objects. Pluto was now a dwarf planet, but it still held a special place in the hearts and minds of anyone who was born before 2006.

SNEAK PEEK of gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3 billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach - 7:49 a.m. EDT today. This same image will be released and discussed at 8 a.m. EDT today. Watch our briefing live on NASA Television at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv The high res pic will be posted on the web at: http://www.nasa.gov. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons #solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on

New Horizons launched while Pluto was still a planet and it has traveled more than 3 billion miles in 9 years.

NASA will not know if New Horizons survived the Pluto flyby until 9:02 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

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