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How long would it take to get to Pluto?
Pluto is 2,662,389,146 miles from Earth at its closest and 4,677,682,333 miles at its farthest. A car at 65 mph would need 4,673 years for the shorter distance and 8,209 years for the longer. A passenger jet at 570 mph would need 533 years and 936 years.
2,662,389,146 mi
Distance at the closest
3 hours 58 minutes
Light travel time at the closest
4,673 years
By car at 65 mph
533 years
By jet at 570 mph
Travel time by vehicle
| Vehicle | Speed | Closest | Typical | Farthest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walking | 3 mph | 101,239 years | 139,556 years | 177,872 years |
| Bicycle | 12 mph | 25,310 years | 34,889 years | 44,468 years |
| Car on a highway | 65 mph | 4,673 years | 6,441 years | 8,209 years |
| Passenger jet | 570 mph | 533 years | 735 years | 936 years |
| SR-71 Blackbird, its official speed record | 2,193 mph | 138 years | 191 years | 243 years |
| Voyager 1, about 17 km/s | 38,028 mph | 8.0 years | 11.0 years | 14.0 years |
| Parker Solar Probe at closest approach, 692,000 km/h | 429,989 mph | 258 days | 356 days | 453 days |
| Light | 670,616,629 mph | 3 hours 58 minutes | 5 hours 28 minutes | 6 hours 58 minutes |
How long real spacecraft took
New Horizons needed 9.5 years. Spacecraft rarely fly straight at a target. They follow curved paths timed to launch windows, so the trip is longer than the distance alone suggests.
| Mission | Launched | Arrived | Trip time | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Horizons | January 19, 2006 | July 14, 2015 | 9.5 years | Flew past Pluto |
Why the answer changes
Pluto is 1.8 times farther away at its farthest than at its closest, so every travel time above is 1.8 times longer at the far end. The distance depends on where both planets are in their orbits. The closest figure is the smallest possible gap, and the typical figure is the midpoint between the closest and the farthest.
Try your own speed
Other destinations
Sources and method
- Distances: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet, accessed October 18, 2026. Closest and farthest are the minimum and maximum distance from Earth in NASA's table. Typical is the midpoint, except for the Moon (average distance) and the Sun (mean distance).
- Vehicle speeds are round figures chosen for comparison, not measurements. Light travels at 299,792.458 km/s.
- New Horizons: NASA mission page for the launch time; flyby time from Wikipedia.