On the way to Pluto: the passing of Mars (2)

Caption NASA:"New Horizons' trailblazing journey to the Solar System's outermost frontier took it past the orbit of Mars at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 UTC) on April 7, 2006 - 78 days after the spacecraft launched.

At the time, because of Mars' position in its orbit, New Horizons was actually closer to Earth than to Mars - just 93,5 MKM (58,1 MMs) from home, compared to 299 MKM (186 MMs) from the Red Planet. Speeding away from the Sun at 21 Km (about 13 miles) per second, the spacecraft crossed Mars' path some 243 MKM (about 151 MMs) from the Sun - close to the farthest point in Mars' elliptical 687-day orbit".