The last hurdle has been overcome: New Horizons has sent back a signal indicating its safe passage away from Pluto, 22 hours after going completely dark during its intensive collection of data.

The historic Pluto mission has officially been declared a success.

After going dark when its intense observational period of Pluto began, the New Horizons spacecraft transmitted its first signal back to the NASA crew indicating safe passage Tuesday night. 

This means it was able to dodge its 1-in-10,000 chance of hitting space debris as it whizzed past the former planet. 

The last contact was made on Monday night at 11:17 pm after which the team ceased all communications so the probe could focus on gathering data. 

The first images from the flyby are expected to be shared with the public shortly, and New Horizons will continue to stream back information over the next 16 months. 

The spacecraft flew 3 billion miles over the past 9 ½ years t