What is the name of the spacecraft that first visited Pluto?

The spacecraft that first visited Pluto is called New Horizons. Launched in January 2006, it completed a journey of nearly a decade across the solar system before making its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. This historic flyby provided the first detailed images and scientific data about Pluto and its moons, significantly enhancing our understanding of this distant dwarf planet.

Before New Horizons, other spacecraft like Voyager 1 conducted flybys of the outer planets but did not visit Pluto. The Hubble Space Telescope, while capable of observing distant celestial objects including Pluto, does not travel through space in the way a spacecraft does. The Spirit Rover was designed for Mars exploration and had no connection to Pluto. Hence, New Horizons is recognized as the first spacecraft to provide close-up data of Pluto, marking a significant milestone in planetary exploration.