July 2015 Current Events: Disasters & Science News

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

World News | Business News | U.S. News

Here are the key events in science and disasters news for the month of July 2015.

• New Horizons Spacecraft Reaches Pluto (July 14): The spacecraft New Horizons passes by Pluto, and comes within 7,800 miles of its surface, its closest flyby. The craft captures images of Pluto and sends them back to Earth. The mission measures the diameter of Pluto (1,472 miles), confirms the presence of nitrogen and methane ice at the polar region, and discovers that there are higher levels of nitrogen emitting from the atmosphere into space.