Only hours from completing a historic flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is on course and ready to gather scientific data on the small object’s geology, composition, atmosphere and more. Closest approach takes place in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day — 12:33 a.m. EST — marking the event as the most distant exploration of worlds ever completed by humankind.