title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Development for the game began soon after the release of "Black Ops", with Activision promising that the follow-up would bring "meaningful innovation" to the "Call of Duty" franchise. "Black Ops II" is the first game in the series to feature futuristic warfare technology and the first to present branching storylines driven by player choice as well as selecting weapons before starting story mode missions. It also offers a 3D display option. The game was officially revealed on May 1, 2012, following a set of leaked information released during the previous months.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: "Black Ops II" received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its gameplay, story, multiplayer, and Zombies mode, but was criticized for its Strike Force missions. The game was a commercial success; within 24 hours of going on sale, the game grossed over $500 million. It had remained the largest entertainment launch of all time until September 2013, when Take-Two Interactive announced that "Grand Theft Auto V" had grossed $800 million in its first day of release. It went on to sell 7.5 million copies in the U.S. in November 2012, making it the highest-grossing game of the month. A sequel, "", was released in 2015. "", set between "Black Ops" and "Black Ops II", was released on November 13, 2020.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: "Black Ops II" is the first "Call of Duty" video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. Known as "Strike Force missions", these branching storylines appear during the 2025 storyline and feature permanent death. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign storyline. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Similarly, in the main story missions, there are certain points where the player is given different choices and paths to progress, which could have an effect on the gameplay, as well as the story. "Black Ops II" is also the first game in the series to allow the player to customize their loadout before beginning a mission, creating freedom in choosing how to approach a mission.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: One of the biggest changes added to multiplayer mode in "Black Ops II" is the introduction of Pick 10, a new system within the Create-a-Class menu. Pick 10 gives the player a total of 10 allocation slots in a class, which are used for guns, perks, and grenades. The player can customize the slot allocation, to either have more attachments for a gun, or more perks.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Killstreaks from previous "Call of Duty" games are renamed as Scorestreaks, which are now earned by gaining points, rather than kills. This allows the player to focus on objective modes, which also earn points towards Scorestreaks.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Unlike past games, weapons in "Black Ops II" have a progression system, which is used to unlock weapon attachments. After maxing out a weapon's level, the player can choose to "prestige" the gun, similar to how they can prestige the player level, and reset their attachment progress. In exchange, the player can customize their weapons with custom clan tags and emblems.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: "Black Ops II" is also the first "Call of Duty" game to include a competitive mode. Known as League Play, the mode allows players of similar skill level to be matched together, and play according to the rules of Major League Gaming.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Treyarch confirmed that the Zombies mode would return for "Black Ops II" with new game modes. This is the third "Call of Duty" game to feature a Zombies mode, following "" and "", and the first to have game modes other than the traditional Survival mode. Treyarch also confirmed that Zombies would run on the game's multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience, along with new features. A new, 8 player co-op game called "Grief" is also supported, featuring 2 teams of 4 players competing to survive, unlike the previous games which only supported 4 player online co-op. As with the previous installments, each Zombies map contains "Easter eggs" side quests, which is used to progress the story. Another new mode, "Turned", is introduced with several downloadable content maps, in which one player attempts to survive three player-controlled zombies who must turn the other player into a zombie.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The single-player campaign features two connected storylines, with the first set from 1986 to 1989 during the final years of the First Cold War, and the other set in 2025 during a Second Cold War and Rare earths trade dispute. The protagonist of "Black Ops", (Sam Worthington) returns as the protagonist in the first Cold War section, and chronicles the rise to infamy of the game's primary antagonist, Raul Menendez (Kamar de los Reyes).


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The 2025 section of the game features Alex Mason's son David (codenamed Section) (Rich MacDonald) as the protagonist, in which Menendez is plotting against the United States and China with one of his ultimate goals being to see the United States locked in a new Cold War with China, in revenge for many of his misfortunes. In this era, wars are defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles, and other futuristic technology.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Returning characters include Alex Mason's CIA squadmates Frank Woods (James C. Burns) and Jason Hudson (Michael Keaton), former Soviet Army Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Andrew Divoff), and disgraced Red Army Captain Viktor Reznov (Gary Oldman). New characters include: Section's SEAL teammates Mike Harper (Michael Rooker) and Javier Salazar (Celestino Cornielle), their commanding officer Admiral Tommy Briggs (Tony Todd), the CIA double agent Farid (Omid Abtahi), U.S. President Marion Bosworth (Cira Larkin), Strategic Defense Coalition leader General Tian Zhao (Byron Mann), Tacitus Corporation ex-employee Chloe Lynch (codename Karma) (Erin Cahill). The game also features several historical and real-life characters, including: UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi (Robert Wisdom), former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega (Benito Martinez), Colonel Oliver North (voiced by himself), and former CIA director David Petraeus (Jim Meskimen). Jimmy Kimmel cameos as himself in one of the game's endings, while the rock band Avenged Sevenfold makes a non-canonical appearance at the end of the game.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In 1986, Alex Mason, now retired from active duty, pursues an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is approached by Jason Hudson for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan Civil War and South African Border War. Frank Woods and his team have disappeared aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA, but Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently encountering Raul Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. After a lengthy firefight, the trio are rescued by Savimbi. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In light of this, Mason, Woods, and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, an established primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in Southern Africa and Latin America. The CIA later authorize a strike against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The trio and Chinese operative Tian Zhao ally with the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviets. They capture Lev Kravchenko, , and interrogate him into disclosing that Menendez has moles inside the CIA before executing him. The Mujahideen then betray the Americans and Zhao, leaving them to die in the Afghan wilderness until their rescue by two unidentified civilians.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The origins of Menendez's anti-American sentiment is revealed at this point. His sister Josefina was disfigured in a fire as part of an insurance fraud masterminded by an American businessman. The CIA sanctions the assassination of Menendez's father after uncovering his ties to South American drug trade. Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Panamanian security forces led by President Manuel Noriega raid Menendez's compound in Nicaragua; during the chaos, Woods inadvertently kills Josefina with a grenade. Conspiring with Noriega to fake his demise, Menendez crosses paths with Mason and Woods again during the American invasion of Panama. Revealing that he had coerced Hudson to be his mole, Menendez captures Hudson and David, and has Hudson manipulate Woods into shooting Mason before crippling Woods. He then executes Hudson, promising to return and complete his revenge at a later date.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In 2025, Menendez reemerges as the charismatic leader of Cordis Die, a militant populist movement. His organization stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese stock exchanges, forcing their government to leverage its economic influence and sparking a second Cold War between NATO and the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition headed by Zhao. David, now a Navy SEAL Lt. Commander code-named Section, spearheads an effort by American Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to track down Menendez. They fail to apprehend him, but learn that Menendez is planning a second cyberattack with global repercussions, dependent on a quantum supercomputer engineered by rogue developer Chloe Lynch. Section and two other SEALs, Harper and Salazar, either rescue Lynch by killing Menendez's second-in-command, DeFalco, or he escapes. The "Strike Force" mission "Second Chance" must be completed to rescue Lynch if the latter occurs.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: JSOC finally capture Menendez in Yemen with the assistance of undercover CIA agent, Farid. However, prior to being apprehended, Menendez orders Farid to kill a captured Harper. Farid will be executed by Menendez if he refuses. American forces take Menendez aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. "Barack Obama", commanded by Admiral Briggs; however, Menendez escapes with the aid of a mole inside JSOC: Salazar. How Salazar's betrayal pans out is determinant on the fates of Lynch, Farid, and DeFalco. Menendez hacks into the U.S. military satellite to seize control of their entire drone fleet. Whether the Americans regain control is determined on whether the Strike Force missions were completed and whether Briggs remains alive to activate the ship's defenses.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Regardless, Menendez uses the drones to attack Los Angeles during a meeting of G20 leaders, hoping to kill them and foment widespread economic and civil chaos. With the drones also targeting several other strategic cities across the U.S. and China, Section escorts the President of the United States to safety in a Cougar HE. Menendez is tracked to Haiti, where Section must either execute or reapprehend him.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The events of the player's ending is determinant on the fates of Menendez, Lynch, and Alex Mason, and whether the Strike Force missions were completed.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: A non-canon ending is unlocked by completing the game, depicting Menendez and Woods performing at a concert with Synyster Gates and M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, with the rest of the characters from the game dancing. It is shown after the 2nd half of the credits and also acts as the official music video of the game.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Zombies takes place throughout various time periods, mostly focused during the modern time, in a post-apocalyptic world, created as a result of the missile launch from the moon striking the Earth. The majority of the story follows four new characters: Samuel Stuhlinger (David Boat), Marlton Johnson (Scott Menville), Abigail "Misty" Briarton (Stephanie Lemelin) and Russman (Keith Szarabajka). Dr. Edward Richtofen (Nolan North), one of the previous playable characters from the previous game, returns as the demonic announcer, overseeing the four characters. Another returning character is Dr. Ludvig Maxis (Fred Tatasciore), who instructs the new group to help him defeat Richtofen. Players can choose whether to help Maxis or Richtofen, which will have different results once the story ends. The map "Mob of the Dead" features a new crew of characters: Albert "The Weasel" Arlington (Joe Pantoliano), Billy Handsome (Ray Liotta), Michael "Finn" O'Leary (Michael Madsen), and Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (Chazz Palminteri). The map "Origins" features an alternate version of the original crew: Tank Dempsey (Steven Blum), Nikolai Belinski (also voiced by Tatasciore), Takeo Masaki (Tom Kane), and Richtofen (Nolan North), as well as Maxis' daughter, Samantha (Julie Nathanson).


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In Nevada, a team of CIA and CDC operatives investigate a nuclear testing site known as "Nuketown", where they are attacked by zombies. At the same time, Dr. Edward Richtofen seizes control of the zombies by entering the Aether from Group 935's moon base. However, Dr. Ludvig Maxis joins with his daughter Samantha and Richtofen's former allies, Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki, to thwart him. To end this, Maxis launches three massive nuclear missiles filled with Element 115, the element responsible for the reanimation of dead cells, at the Earth, destroying its atmosphere. One missile completely destroys Nuketown and all present, except for one individual, Marlton Johnson, who escapes after hiding out in the site's bunker.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Ten years later , Earth has been reduced to a crumbling, hellish wasteland overrun by zombies. In this new world, four survivors - Samuel Stuhlinger, Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton, and Russman - have banded together to survive in Washington with the help of a bus driven by a robotic driver. The four are contacted by both Richtofen and Maxis, who is now a digital artificial intelligence, for aid against the other. Both former scientists request the four to assist them in powering up a tower within the area to work in their favor. Once done, regardless of the path they choose, they are teleported by Richtofen to a crumbling skyline in Shanghai, China. The four learn of The Flesh, a cannibalistic cult that chooses to eat zombie meat, as well as the beginnings of a new airborne pandemic of Element 115. Stuhlinger is threatened by Richtofen, who knows of his past as a member of The Flesh, which allows only him to hear Richtofen and not the others. At the site, Maxis and Richtofen once again instruct the four to power up a second tower.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Following their battles in Shanghai, Russman leads the group across the continents to a large hole in the ground known as The Rift in Africa, hoping to find answers about the unseen forces commanding them. Richtofen commands Samuel to "mend the rift". The four gain a new ally in the form of a mute giant (real name later known as Arthur) in a Western town warped underground by temporal displacement, and are hampered by a ghostly woman in a massive mansion. In the canonical ending, the group aids Maxis, allowing him to use the power from the towers to enter the Aether and assume ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie's body. However, the Earth begins shaking, and Maxis explains to the four that he is beginning the process of the destruction of the Earth and humanity to reach Agartha, where he believes Samantha is; in the non-canon ending, the group aids Richtofen, letting him gain unlimited power over the Aether and the Earth, allowing him to kill Maxis and condemn Samantha's soul to eternal damnation.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Following the canonical ending, Maxis then plucks Samantha's soul from Richtofen's body on the Moon and forces her to join him in Agartha. Realizing her father has been corrupted by the Aether, Samantha reaches out to an alternate version of him, who resides in Dimension 63. She ends up in 1918 in France during World War I, where Group 935 was formed much earlier, with Maxis as one of its leaders, operating to secure German victory in the war. Group 935 created mechanical robots, as well as staffs that control the powers of the elements. Stumbling upon an ancient tomb believed to be of Vril origin, they accidentally unleash the first known zombie outbreak in history. Aiming to stop Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States of America send Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mastermind behind the advanced technology. By this time, Group 935's operatives have been wiped out, and Maxis himself was lobotomized when he began to turn into a zombie. The group are contacted by Samantha, who begs them to free her from Agartha. Richtofen puts Maxis' brain in a flying drone, and he joins the fight against the zombies and to free Samantha. The group is eventually successful, and while Maxis meets his daughter, they enter Agartha to be rewarded. A cutscene is played, showing Samantha with a boy named Eddie inside a house playing with toys of the characters who have appeared in the Zombies game mode throughout games. Air raid sirens are heard and the two children retreat to the basement with Maxis, with Samantha noting her father has .


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: A separate story, "Mob of the Dead", taking place also in Dimension 63, focuses on four mobsters: Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca, Billy Handsome, Michael "Finn" O'Leary, and Albert "The Weasel" Arlington, who are incarcerated at Alcatraz Island. On New Year's Eve 1933, the four attempt to escape the prison, using Weasel's plan to build a makeshift airplane called Icarus. However, the prison becomes infested with zombies, and they are forced to fight their way out. They succeed in building the airplane, but crash-land at the Golden Gate Bridge. They are then teleported back to the prison, with no memories of their previous attempt (except Weasel, who keeps a journal of the ongoing events). They continuously try to escape, but the result remains the same. After many failures, they discover that they were actually stuck in Purgatory, constantly repeating a cycle as punishment for their past sins. In reality, the escape plan never came to fruition, and Weasel was killed by the other three on New Year's Eve, while the rest were given the death penalty weeks later. Having remembered the truth, Sal, Billy and Finn set out to kill Weasel once again. Two possible endings can occur: if Weasel is killed, the cycle repeats once again; if Weasel lives and the other three are killed, the cycle is broken, and he is finally freed of his punishment. The latter ending is canonical.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick stated on November 8, 2011, that a new "Call of Duty" game was in development for a 2012 release and would be the newest installment in the franchise. The game was officially confirmed by Activision during its fourth-quarter earnings call on February 9, 2012, who promised that it would feature "meaningful innovation" for the series. Oliver North, who was involved in the Iran–Contra affair was a consultant on the 1980s portion and helped promote the game. The author and defense expert Peter W. Singer served as a consultant on the 2025 storyline of the game.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In February 2012, a product page for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2" appeared on Amazon France and was quickly taken down. No information had yet been released by Activision, but Gameblog claimed that Activision demanded the removal of its original report too. When it refused to do so, the publisher reportedly cut off Gameblog from ad support, review game mailings, and future Activision events for refusing to comply. Activision denied Gameblog's claims that it had been cut off. Around the same time, computer game artist Hugo Beyer also listed "Black Ops 2" as his current project in his LinkedIn CV, then removed his LinkedIn page. Beyer is an artist working for Nerve Software, "a Dallas-based independent developer" which has "helped" with previous Activision games including "Black Ops" in 2010. A "Black Ops 2" trademark by Activision was spotted January 2012. Further, "Black Ops 2" was listed by the France international entertainment retail chain Fnac in March 2012, which touted a predictable November release date.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: On April 9, 2012, an image was leaked on the official Call of Duty website, which leaked the "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2" logo, as well as a revealing date of April 28, 2012. The URL was later removed. On April 18, 2012, Kotaku received an image from "a retail source", which showed a teaser poster that lacked a game title but had clear clues to "Black Ops" and a May 2 date that seemingly points to an unveiling. On April 27, 2012, an image containing two Target pre-order cards sent by IGN reader Richard confirmed the game's title and release date. The cards clearly display the "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" logo, and the release date November 13, 2012.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: On April 23, 2012, Activision redesigned CallofDuty.com to announce that the game would be revealed on May 1, 2012, during the NBA playoffs on TNT. The art featured on the site matched up perfectly with the supposed retailer leak received by Kotaku. However, parts of the official website went live hours prior to the announcement, which revealed the title, confirmed the release date for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the "21st Century Cold War" setting. Activision had hinted that the game may eventually become available for Nintendo's own consoles, although had no official announcements for the time being. As promised by Activision, the preview for the game was revealed in the form of a YouTube trailer that detailed the futuristic setting, the characters carried over from the previous games, and the conflict.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: After the game was revealed, the preorder rates on the game set records three times higher than for the preorders of the first "Black Ops". Critics have noted the trailer's similarities to that of "". On July 19, 2012, a second trailer was released by Treyarch, offering insight into the game's narrative. The storyline was described by writer David S. Goyer as "better than a Hollywood movie".


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In developing "Black Ops II", Treyarch introduced several revisions to the gameplay mechanics for online multiplayer that have been a hallmark of the "Call of Duty" franchise. These include the introduction of "multi-team" games that allow matches to host three or more teams of players, in contrast to the traditional two factions, and revisions to the "Create-A-Class" function that allows users to select which guns, attachments, weapon camouflage and perks (additional bonuses that alter aspects of gameplay) to use in multiplayer matches. The "Kill Streak" function, which gives players in-game rewards for killing other players, was revised and is now known as "Score Streaks".


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Whereas players still receive in-game rewards, these are unlocked by performing certain actions – such as killing other players, successfully capturing territory, and so on – rather than simply killing other players. Furthermore, the "wager matches" feature included in "" was removed. These changes were introduced to shift the emphasis towards objective-based gameplay, to reward players who work in teams and to make the game more accessible to new players.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: There is also 3D support if players are playing with an HDMI cable on a 3D TV. Before entering multiplayer mode, there is a 3D setting in the "options" menu.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Square Enix released the game for the Japanese market on November 22, 2012, as a subbed version. A Japanese voice-dubbed version was released separately on December 20, 2012. The script for this version was translated by Zenigame Nakamoto. The translated version was criticized for its translation errors. The Japanese release of the Wii U port is only the dubbed version since the console was not available in Japan in November.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The game's soundtrack was composed by Jack Wall, with the main theme composed by Trent Reznor, the leader of industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails since 1988. The soundtrack was released as a part of the "Hardened Edition" and "Care Package" releases, as well as on iTunes and Amazon, with two supplemental tracks by Brian Tuey, as well as "Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 (Allegro Molto)" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Also, a version of the song "Try It Out" by Skrillex and Alvin Risk is used in the game, but it is not present in the soundtrack album. When the Campaign is completed, after the end credits, Woods and Menendez perform a concert with heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold on their song "Carry On", with Woods on drums and Menendez on rhythm guitar. The band chose to use Woods as the drummer in the game due to the loss of their original drummer The Rev, who died of a drug overdose on December 28, 2009. The band's song "Shepherd of Fire" is featured on the Zombie mode Origins. Additional artists include Sean Murray, Jimmy Hinson, Sergio Jimenez Lacima, Kamar de los Reyes, Azam Ali, & Rudy Cardenas. A war track pack containing a selection of "Black Ops II" songs is featured in "Black Ops Cold War"'s season two battle pass.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Heralding the release of "Black Ops II"s DLCs, Activision releases a live-action short starring a well-groomed Peter Stormare, who acts as a "Replacer", part of a group who are sent by mutual friends to take your place during your daily life while you can stay at home and play "Black Ops II"s new content. Stormare goes on to explain the aims of his jobs and is then shown in multiple situations where he has taken over random people's jobs, such as masquerading as a pregnant lady's husband, working at an office, and enduring a grandmother's endless talking, as well as other such scenarios.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: To promote "Black Ops II"s second DLC, entitled "Uprising", comedian J.B. Smoove joined Stormare in the second production of "The Replacers", in which the two maintain a haphazard relationship. Stormare normally acts as a mentor to the new replacer Smoove by pointing out his various quirks while doing his job, such as his poor performance defending his client while he replaces a lawyer, admitting that he might be guilty.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: A "Black Ops II" Season Pass was released by Treyarch with the release of the game. On December 12, 2012, all Xbox 360 Season Pass holders received access to the "Nuketown Zombies" map, with PC holders following on January 17, and PlayStation 3 holders on January 19, having been delayed two days due to PSN technical issues. It was later released as an individual download for PC on April 13, 2013.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The first major DLC pack is called "Revolution". It was announced on January 8, 2013, and released for Xbox 360 on January 29 and PC and PS3 on February 28 The pack contained four new multiplayer maps: "Downhill", "Hydro", "Mirage" and "Grind"; and two new Zombies modes: "Turned" and "Die Rise". Also included was the first DLC weapon: "the Peacekeeper". Turned occurs in the Diner segment of the "TranZit" map from the original release, and allows up to four players to fight each other in two teams – one human against three zombies. The "Die Rise" map is a larger zombies survival map taking place in two semi-destroyed skyscrapers in Shanghai, where one to four players use elevators to travel between floors.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Personalization pack microtransactions for the game were released for Xbox 360 on March 12, 2013, and PC and PS3 on April 12. These allow the player to make small aesthetic changes to the multiplayer functionality of the game, like adding the flag of their country to the kill notification box, adding new weapon skins and allowing the player to use more Create-a-Class slots.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The second major DLC pack is known as "Uprising". It was released for Xbox 360 on April 16, 2013, and came out for PC and PS3 players on 16 May. It includes the new zombies map "Mob of the Dead" as well as new multiplayer maps "Magma", "Vertigo", "Encore", and a re-imagining of fan-favorite from previous installment "Black Ops Firing Range", known as Studio.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The third major DLC pack is called "Vengeance". It was released for Xbox 360 on July 2, 2013, and for PC and PS3 on August 1. It includes new zombies map "Buried" as well as new multiplayer maps "Cove", "Detour", "Rush" and a remake of the popular map Summit from "Black Ops: Uplink".


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The fourth and final major DLC pack is called "Apocalypse". It was released for Xbox 360 on August 27, 2013, and PC and PS3 on September 26. It includes new zombies map "Origins" back to the old characters (Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and Dempsey), as well as new multiplayer maps "Pod", "Frost" and two remakes of popular maps "Courtyard" and "Stadium" of "" and "Black Ops: First Strike" DLC.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: On August 7, 2014, Activision released Nuketown 2025 for the Wii U Version. None of the DLC packs released for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC were released for Wii U.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" received "generally positive" reviews for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions, but "mixed or average" reviews for the PC version, according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN editor Anthony Gallegos describes the game as "a good example of how to evolve an annualized franchise." Gallegos praised the game for telling a story was genuinely interesting and creating a villain that he empathised with to the point of questioning his own actions over the course of the story. Gallegos directed criticisms at the artificial intelligence of allies in Strike Force mode and at the ending of the campaign, which he felt was disappointing even though he was aware that the outcome was directly influenced by the choices he made.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Marty Sliva of 1UP gave the game a B+ while praising it's freedom of choice in game modes and gameplay variety: "I was surprised with the risks that Treyarch took in the name of delivering a unique and creative experience. Not all of them paid off, but knowing that the team was willing to eschew the safe route helped ward off any stagnation that may have begun to creep into the series as of late."


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Dan Ryckert of "Game Informer" was also critical of the artificial intelligence of Strike Force mode, and was unimpressed by the "Pick Ten" system introduced to multiplayer modes, noting that it was "interesting, but ultimately less exciting" than the system used in previous "Call of Duty" titles. Like Gallegos, Ryckert praised the narrative and structure of the single-player campaign, introducing changes that he felt were overdue and noting that the branching storylines "had me talking to others about their experiences in a way I had never done before with this ["Call of Duty"] series".


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Steven O'Donnell and Stephanie Bendixsen, of video game talk show "Good Game", both gave the game an 8.5 out of 10, praising the gameplay multiplayer and zombies mode, but were critical of the campaign's confusing narrative and Strike Force missions. In particular to the narrative, "Good Game" was critical of the opening battle where the player guns down fleeing African rebels, feeling that it was added purely for shock value and commenting that:


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Frederick Charles Fripp of IT News Africa gave it a final score of 9.2/10 and wrote that "BO2 is a non-stop action-packed shooter that will keep gamers on their toes and on the edge of their seats. It has everything a player could want in a game: great graphics, a good story, easy controls and superb acting."


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: Activision reported "Black Ops II" grossed over $500 million in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time until the record was surpassed by "Grand Theft Auto V" in September 2013. It is the fourth year in a row that the "Call of Duty" series has broken the same record. 2011's "" grossed $400 million on one full day; 2010's "" grossed $360 million on day one; in 2009, "" brought in $310 million. By November 24, 2012, it had sold more than 7.5 million copies in the United States.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: "Black Ops II" went on to gross $1 billion in the first 15 days of availability, beating "Modern Warfare 3"s record of the first 16 days. On November 5, 2013, IGN confirmed that the game sold 24.2 million copies, making it the third highest-selling game in the series, behind 2010's "Black Ops", and 2011's "Modern Warfare 3".


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: In July 2014, Manuel Noriega sued Activision for lost profits from the use of his likeness in the game. He also claims that his inclusion translated to higher sales of "Black Ops II". Noriega makes an appearance in the Cold War portions of the game and aids the primary antagonist. The suit sought compensation for lost profits and damages for his depiction as a "kidnapper, murderer, and enemy of the state" in the game. On October 28, the Los Angeles court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Noriega's inclusion was protected under free speech laws.


title: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

text: The publisher, Activision, was also sued in a French court by family members of Jonas Savimbi, who thought his portrayal in the game was inaccurate, saying he was portrayed as a "barbarian". Three of his children wanted 1 million euros for damages. The French court dismissed the case in 2016.


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Claudia Jessie (born 1989/1990) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the third series of the BBC One police procedural "WPC 56" (2015) and as Eloise, the fifth Bridgerton child, in the Netflix period drama "Bridgerton" (2020–present). She also had roles in series 4 of "Line of Duty" (2017), the Dave sitcom "Porters" (2017–2019) and the ITV miniseries "Vanity Fair" (2018).


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Jessie was born in Moseley, and grew up on a canal boat. She spent some of her childhood in London and was homeschooled from the age of 14 before returning to Birmingham when she was 17. Her family struggled financially; Jessie described the experiences that came with it, such as bailiffs coming to the door, as traumatic. In addition, her parents split and her father was not around. Her single mother, Dawn, worked cleaning houses to provide for her and her brother.


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Jessie's mother also worked to afford her ballet lessons at the Challis School of Dance. She was subsequently discovered by student director Hannah Phillips who cast her in several amateur productions. Jessie trained part-time at the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School and spent a year studying with the Birmingham Library Theatre Company. She then signed with an agent in 2012.


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Jessie's first professional acting role was in a short film titled "Rosie" in 2012. She followed this with appearances in the soap operas "Doctors" and "Casualty". She appeared in an episode of "House of Anubis", and reprised her role as Sophie Danae in the television film "Touchstone of Ra".


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Between 2014 and 2016, Jessie starred in the BAFTA-winning CBBC Online web series "Dixi" as Shari. In 2015, she was cast as WPC Annie Taylor, the lead character in the third series of the BBC One television programme "WPC 56". She was a guest in "Josh", playing the protagonist’s love interest. Jessie acted in the 2014 short film "Copy That" directed by Kingsley Hoskins which won the Best Comedic Short Film award at TSFA in New York. Jessie made her feature film debut as Doris in the 2016 war film "Their Finest".


title: Claudia Jessie

text: In 2017, she starred as DC Jodie Taylor in series four of "Line of Duty" on BBC One and Lucy in the Dave sitcom "Porters", the latter of which she would return to for its second series. The following year, she played Amelia Sedley in the ITV miniseries adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". She also made a guest appearance in the "Doctor Who" episode "Kerblam!" in 2018.


title: Claudia Jessie

text: In 2020, Jessie began playing Eloise, the fifth Bridgerton child, in the Shondaland-produced Netflix period drama "Bridgerton", an adaptation of the Regency romance novels by Julia Quinn. Jessie stars in "Bali 2002" for Stan and 9Network, an Australian drama about the real life 2002 Bali bombings. Jessie plays real-life survivor Polly Miller, a newlywed British tourist.


title: Claudia Jessie

text: Jessie spoke of having a boyfriend in 2015. She has stated she is a vegan and meditates for at least an hour a day. Her aunt introduced her to Nichiren Buddhism, and Jessie has regularly practiced it since she was 17 for her mental health. She has spoken of her experiences with panic attacks and anxiety since childhood, as well as depersonalisation disorder.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto von Habsburg (, ; 20 November 1912 4 July 2011), was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in November 1918. In 1922, he became the pretender to the former thrones, head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece upon the death of his father. He resigned as Sovereign of the Golden Fleece in 2000 and as head of the Imperial House in 2007.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: The eldest son of Charles I and IV, the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, and his wife, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Otto was born as "Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg", third in line to the thrones, as Archduke Otto of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia. With his father's accession to the thrones in 1916, he was likely to become emperor and king. As his father never abdicated, Otto was considered by himself, his family and Austro-Hungarian legitimists to be the rightful emperor-king from his father's death in 1922.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto was active on the Austrian and European political stage from the 1930s, both by promoting the cause of Habsburg restoration and as an early proponent of European integration—being thoroughly disgusted with nationalism—and a fierce opponent of Nazism and communism. He has been described as one of the leaders of the Austrian Resistance. After the 1938 "Anschluss", he was sentenced to death by the Nazis and fled Europe to the United States.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto von Habsburg was Vice President (1957–1973) and President (1973–2004) of the International Paneuropean Union movement. From 1979 to 1999 he served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). As a newly elected Member of the European Parliament in 1979, Otto took a strong interest in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, and had an empty chair set up in the European Parliament to symbolize their absence. Otto von Habsburg played a notable role in the revolutions of 1989, as a co-initiator of the Pan-European Picnic. Later he was a strong supporter of the EU membership of central and eastern European countries. A noted intellectual, he published several books on historical and political affairs. Otto has been described as one of the "architects of the European idea and of European integration" together with Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, and Alcide De Gasperi.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto was exiled in 1919 and grew up mostly in Spain. His devout Catholic mother raised him according to the old curriculum of Austria-Hungary, preparing him to become a Catholic monarch. During his life in exile, he lived in Switzerland, Madeira, Spain, Belgium, France, the United States, and from 1954 until his death, finally in Bavaria (Germany), in the residence Villa Austria. At the time of his death, he was a citizen of Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia, having earlier been stateless and , and he possessed passports of the Order of Malta and Spain.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: His funeral took place at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna on 16 July 2011; he was entombed in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna and his heart buried in Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto was born at Villa Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax, Austria-Hungary, during the reign of his great-grand uncle, Franz Joseph I of Austria. He was baptised Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius on 25 November 1912 at Villa Wartholz by the Prince-Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz Xaver Nagl. This name was chosen so that he might reign as "Franz Joseph II" in the future. His godfather was the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (represented by Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria); his godmother was his grandmother Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: In November 1916, Otto became Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia when his father, Archduke Charles, acceded to the throne. However, in 1918, after the end of the First World War, the monarchies were abolished, the republics of Austria and Hungary were founded in their place, and the family was forced into exile in Madeira. Hungary did become a kingdom again, but Charles was never to regain the throne. Instead, Miklós Horthy ruled as regent until 1944, in a kingdom without a king.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto spoke German, Hungarian, Croatian, English, Spanish, French and Latin fluently. In later life, he would write some forty books in German, Hungarian, French and Spanish. His mother made him learn many languages because she believed he one day might rule over many lands.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto's family spent the subsequent years in Switzerland, and on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where 34-year-old Charles died in 1922, leaving the nine-year-old Otto pretender to the throne. On his father's deathbed, his mother, Empress Dowager Zita, told Otto, "your father is now sleeping the eternal sleep—you are now Emperor and King". The family eventually relocated to the Basque town of Lekeitio, where forty Spanish grandees bought them a villa.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Meanwhile, the Austrian parliament had officially expelled the Habsburg dynasty and confiscated all the official property via the Habsburg Law of 3 April 1919. Charles was banned from ever returning to Austria again, while Otto and other male members could return only if they renounced all claims to the throne and accepted the status of private citizens.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: In 1935, he graduated with a PhD degree in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Louvain in Belgium. His thesis was on "the right, born of usage and of the peasant law of inheritance, of the indivisibility of rural land ownership in Austria". In 1937 he wrote,


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: He continued to enjoy considerable public support in Austria; from 1931 to 1938, 1,603 Austrian municipalities named Otto an honorary citizen. John Gunther believed that Zita was less popular among Austrians, however, writing in 1936 that "restoration would be a good deal closer if Otto's return would not mean also the return of his mother—to say nothing of hundreds of assorted and impoverished Habsburg cousins and aunts, who would flock to Vienna like ants to a keg of syrup". A greater obstacle, he wrote, was the opposition of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which feared that their people might want to rejoin a recreated monarchy.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: He strongly opposed the "Anschluss", and in 1938 requested Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg to resist Nazi Germany. He supported international intervention and offered to return from exile to take over the reins of government to repel the Nazis. According to Gerald Warner, "Austrian Jews were among the strongest supporters of a Habsburg restoration, since they believed the dynasty would give the nation sufficient resolve to stand up to the Third Reich".


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Following the German annexation of Austria, Otto was sentenced to death by the Nazi regime; Rudolf Hess ordered that Otto was to be executed immediately if caught. As ordered by Adolf Hitler, his personal property and that of the House of Habsburg were confiscated. It was not returned after the war. The so-called "Habsburg Law", which had previously been repealed, was reintroduced by the Nazis. Otto's supporters, the leaders of the Austrian legitimist movement, were arrested by the Nazis and largely executed (Stefan Zweig's novella "The Royal Game" is based on these events). Otto's cousins Max, Duke of Hohenberg, and Prince Ernst of Hohenberg were arrested in Vienna by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau concentration camp where they remained throughout Nazi rule. Otto was involved in helping around 15,000 Austrians, including thousands of Austrian Jews, flee the country at the beginning of the Second World War.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: After the German invasion of France in 1940, the family left the French capital and fled to Portugal. On June 12 the Portuguese ruler António Salazar issued instructions to the Portuguese consulates in France to provide Infanta Maria Antónia of Portugal with Portuguese passports which would allow visas for her daughter Empress Zita and grandson Otto without violating Portuguese neutrality. The family is resided in Cascais during their exodus. When the German authorities pressed Salazar for Otto's extradition from Portugal, Salazar offered to protect Otto, but asked him as a friend to leave the country. Otto left, and lived from 1940 to 1944 in Washington, D.C. In 1941, Hitler personally revoked the citizenship of Otto, his mother and his siblings, and the imperial-royal family found themselves stateless.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto was listed on the Nazi Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ("Special Search List Great Britain"), and was the unofficial head of numerous resistance groups in Central Europe. These groups hated Nazi ideology and saw the resurgence of a Danube confederation as the only way for small states to exist between Germany and Russia. They championed the centuries-old Habsburg principle of "live and let live" among ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages. These imperial resistance groups became embroiled in ferocious partisan warfare against Hitler, who profoundly hated the Habsburg family tradition. Many of these imperial resistance fighters (according to current estimates 4000-4500) were sent directly to concentration camps without trial, and over 800 were executed by the Nazis. Among them was Karl Burian, who was planning to blow up the Gestapo headquarters in Vienna, or Dr. Heinrich Maier, who passed on plans and production facilities for V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks and Messerschmitt airplanes to the Allies. In contrast to many other German resistance groups, the Maier group was informed very early about the mass murder of Jews through its contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: During his wartime exile in the United States, Otto and his younger brothers were in direct contact with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the federal government. His efforts to create an "Austrian Battalion" in the United States Army were delayed and never implemented. However, he successfully convinced the U.S. to halt or limit the bombardment of Austrian cities, especially Vienna; due to this influence, bombardments on Vienna were delayed until 1943. Otto greatly desired Austria to be free, independent and democratic; he expressed concern that after the war the country was in danger of becoming a Soviet satellite state. Otto was commonly known in the U.S. as "Otto of Austria", and tried to keep his homeland and its neighbors in the minds of the American people by inaugurating a series of stamps (the Overrun Countries series) featuring the German-occupied nations of Europe.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: He obtained the support of Winston Churchill for a conservative "Danube Federation", in effect a restoration of Austria-Hungary, but Joseph Stalin put an end to these plans. Otto lobbied for the recognition of an Austrian government-in-exile, for the rights of the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, against the deportation of the German-speaking inhabitants of Bohemia and eastern Europe, and against letting Stalin rule Eastern Europe.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: As he did not possess a passport and was effectively stateless, he was given a passport of the Principality of Monaco, thanks to the intervention of Charles de Gaulle in 1946. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, of which he was a knight, also issued him a diplomatic passport. Later, he was also issued a Spanish diplomatic passport.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: On 8 May 1956, Otto was recognized as an Austrian citizen by the provincial government of Lower Austria. The Austrian Interior Ministry approved this declaration of citizenship, but on the condition that he accept the name Dr. Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, on 8 February 1957. However, this only entitled him to a passport "valid in every country but Austria". Otto had already submitted a written statement, on 21 February 1958, that he and his family would renounce all former personal privileges of the House of Habsburg, but this did not satisfy the requirements of the Habsburg Law, which stated that Otto and other descendants of Charles could only return to Austria if they renounced all royal claims and accepted the status of private citizens. He officially declared his loyalty to the Republic of Austria on 5 June 1961, but this statement was ruled insufficient as well.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: In a declaration dated 31 May 1961, Otto renounced all claims to the Austrian throne and proclaimed himself "a loyal citizen of the republic", "for purely practical reasons". In a 2007 interview on the occasion of his approaching 95th birthday, Otto stated:


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: The Austrian administrative court found on 24 May 1963 that Otto's statement was legally sufficient. He and his wife were issued a Certified Proof of Citizenship on 20 July 1965. However, several political elements in the country, particularly the Socialists, were ill-disposed to welcoming back the heir of the deposed dynasty. This touched off political infighting and civil unrest that almost precipitated a crisis of state, and later became known as the "Habsburg Crisis". It was only on 1 June 1966, after the People's Party won an outright majority in the national election, that Otto was issued an Austrian passport, and was finally able to visit his home country again on 31 October 1966 for the first time in 48 years. That day, he traveled to Innsbruck to visit the grave of Archduke Eugen of Austria. Later, he visited Vienna on 5 July 1967.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: An early advocate of a unified Europe, Otto was president of the International Paneuropean Union from 1973 to 2004. He served from 1979 until 1999 as a Member of the European Parliament for the conservative Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) party, eventually becoming the senior member of the European Parliament. He was also a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. He was a major supporter of the expansion of the European Union from the beginning and especially of the acceptance of Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. During his time in the European Parliament, he was involved in a fracas with fellow MEP Ian Paisley, a unionist Protestant pastor from Northern Ireland. In 1988, Pope John Paul II had just begun a speech to the Parliament when Ian Paisley, a vehement anti-Catholic, shouted and held up a poster reading "Pope John Paul II Antichrist". While other members threw papers and other objects at Paisley, Otto snatched Paisley's banner and, along with other MEPs and security personnel, roughed him up, punched him, tore his shirt, pulled on his tie, and ejected him head-first through the doors of the chamber, as the Pope looked on.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: With others, he was instrumental in organising the so-called Pan-European Picnic at the Hungary-Austria border on 19 August 1989. This event is considered a milestone in the collapse of Communist dictatorships in Europe.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: In December 2006, he observed that, "The catastrophe of 11 September 2001 struck the United States more profoundly than any of us, whence a certain mutual incomprehension. Until then, the United States felt itself secure, persuaded of its power to bombard any enemy, without anyone being able to strike back. That sentiment vanished in an instant. Americans understand viscerally for the first time the risks they face." He was known as a supporter of the rights of refugees and displaced people in Europe, notably of the ethnic Germans displaced from Bohemia where he was once the Crown Prince. He was a jury member of the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award. He also held Francisco Franco in a high regard and praised him for helping refugees, stating that he was "a dictator of the South American type, not totalitarian like Hitler or Stalin".


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto von Habsburg was an early critic of Russian President Putin. In a newspaper interview in 2002 and in two speeches in 2003 and 2005, he warned of Putin as an "international threat" that he was "cruel and oppressive" and a "stone cold technocrat".


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: On the 2008 anniversary of the Anschluss, Otto von Habsburg made a statement as part of his "1938 Remembrance Day" address before Parliament that "there is no country in Europe that has a better claim to be a victim of the Nazis than Austria". Although his speech received an ovation, this received public protest, media criticism and disapproval voiced by Austrian politicians. Social Democratic Party Defence Minister Norbert Darabos was quoted as saying that the remarks were "unacceptable", "a veritable democratic-political scandal" and that he had "insulted the victims of National Socialism". Otto von Habsburg was also quoted as saying that "a discussion as to whether Austria was an accomplice or a victim is an outrage". Austrian People's Party military spokesman Walter Murauer defended Otto's statement at the time. Murauer claimed that there was "another reality behind the mass of people who listened to Hitler on the Heldenplatz", meaning the "thousands in the resistance and thousands in prison waiting to be transported to Dachau" near Munich. Murauer also recalled that Engelbert Dollfuß had been the only head of government in Europe to have been murdered by the Nazis. Murauer advised Darabos "to avoid populist pot-shots against an honourable European of the highest calibre". Otto's son, Karl von Habsburg, also defended his father's words, in a 2011 statement, stating that "there were guilty parties in practically every country".


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: After the death of his wife, Regina, aged 85, in Pöcking on 3 February 2010, Otto stopped appearing in public. He died at the age of 98 on Monday, 4 July 2011, at his home in Pöcking, Germany. His spokeswoman reported that he died "peacefully and without pain in his sleep". On 5 July, his body was laid in repose in the Church of St. Ulrich near his home in Pöcking, Bavaria, and a massive 13-day period of mourning started in several countries formerly part of Austria-Hungary. Otto's coffin was draped with the Habsburg flag decorated with the imperial–royal coats of arms of Austria and Hungary in addition to the Habsburg family coat of arms. In line with the Habsburg family tradition, Otto von Habsburg was buried in the family's crypt in Vienna, while his heart was buried in Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: He married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen in 1951 at the Church of Saint-François-des-Cordeliers in Nancy, capital city of Lorraine. They were fourth cousins as both were descendants of Karl Ludwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth. The wedding was attended by his mother, Empress Zita. He returned there with his wife for their golden jubilee in 2001. Otto lived in retirement at the Villa Austria in Pöcking near Starnberg, upon Starnberger See, Upper Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany.


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: At the time of his death in 2011, the couple had seven children, 22 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren:


title: Otto von Habsburg

text: Otto von Habsburg became a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1978, and was allowed the official name:


title: New Horizons

text: New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow, which became a mission to 486958 Arrokoth. It is the fifth space probe to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.


title: New Horizons

text: On January 19, 2006, "New Horizons" was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station by an Atlas V rocket directly into an Earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about . It was the fastest (average speed with respect to Earth) man-made object ever launched from Earth. It is not the fastest speed recorded for a spacecraft, which as of 2021 is that of the Parker Solar Probe. After a brief encounter with asteroid 132524 APL, "New Horizons" proceeded to Jupiter, making its closest approach on February 28, 2007, at a distance of . The Jupiter flyby provided a gravity assist that increased "New Horizons" speed; the flyby also enabled a general test of "New Horizons" scientific capabilities, returning data about the planet's atmosphere, moons, and magnetosphere.


title: New Horizons

text: Most of the post-Jupiter voyage was spent in hibernation mode to preserve on-board systems, except for brief annual checkouts. On December 6, 2014, "New Horizons" was brought back online for the Pluto encounter, and instrument check-out began. On January 15, 2015, the spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto.


title: New Horizons

text: On July 14, 2015, at 11:49 UTC, it flew above the surface of Pluto, which at the time was 34 AU from the Sun, making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet. In August 2016, "New Horizons" was reported to have traveled at speeds of more than . On October 25, 2016, at 21:48 UTC, the last of the recorded data from the Pluto flyby was received from "New Horizons". Having completed its flyby of Pluto, "New Horizons" then maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth (then nicknamed "Ultima Thule"), which occurred on January 1, 2019, when it was 43.4 AU from the Sun. In August 2018, NASA cited results by "Alice" on "New Horizons" to confirm the existence of a "hydrogen wall" at the outer edges of the Solar System. This "wall" was first detected in 1992 by the two Voyager spacecraft.


title: New Horizons

text: In August 1992, JPL scientist Robert Staehle called Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, requesting permission to visit his planet. "I told him he was welcome to it," Tombaugh later remembered, "though he's got to go one long, cold trip." The call eventually led to a series of proposed Pluto missions, leading up to "New Horizons".


title: New Horizons

text: Stamatios "Tom" Krimigis, head of the Applied Physics Laboratory's space division, one of many entrants in the New Frontiers Program competition, formed the "New Horizons" team with Alan Stern in December 2000. Appointed as the project's principal investigator, Stern was described by Krimigis as "the personification of the Pluto mission". "New Horizons" was based largely on Stern's work since "Pluto 350" and involved most of the team from "Pluto Kuiper Express".


title: New Horizons

text: The "New Horizons" proposal was one of five that were officially submitted to NASA. It was later selected as one of two finalists to be subject to a three-month concept study, in June 2001. The other finalist, POSSE (Pluto and Outer Solar System Explorer), was a separate, but similar Pluto mission concept by the University of Colorado Boulder, led by principal investigator Larry W. Esposito, and supported by the JPL, Lockheed Martin and the University of California.


title: New Horizons

text: However, the APL, in addition to being supported by "Pluto Kuiper Express" developers at the Goddard Space Flight Center and Stanford University, were at an advantage; they had recently developed "NEAR Shoemaker" for NASA, which had successfully entered orbit around 433 Eros earlier that year, and would later land on the asteroid to scientific and engineering fanfare.


title: New Horizons

text: In November 2001, "New Horizons" was officially selected for funding as part of the New Frontiers program. However, the new NASA Administrator appointed by the Bush Administration, Sean O'Keefe, was not supportive of "New Horizons", and effectively cancelled it by not including it in NASA's budget for 2003. NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Ed Weiler prompted Stern to lobby for the funding of "New Horizons" in hopes of the mission appearing in the Planetary Science Decadal Survey; a prioritized "wish list", compiled by the United States National Research Council, that reflects the opinions of the scientific community.


title: New Horizons

text: After an intense campaign to gain support for "New Horizons", the Planetary Science Decadal Survey of 2003–2013 was published in the summer of 2002. "New Horizons" topped the list of projects considered the highest priority among the scientific community in the medium-size category; ahead of missions to the Moon, and even Jupiter. Weiler stated that it was a result that "[his] administration was not going to fight". Funding for the mission was finally secured following the publication of the report. Stern's team was finally able to start building the spacecraft and its instruments, with a planned launch in January 2006 and arrival at Pluto in 2015. Alice Bowman became Mission Operations Manager (MOM).


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers mission category, larger and more expensive than the Discovery missions but smaller than the missions of the Flagship Program. The cost of the mission, including spacecraft and instrument development, launch vehicle, mission operations, data analysis, and education/public outreach, is approximately $700 million over 15 years (2001–2016). The spacecraft was built primarily by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The mission's principal investigator is Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute (formerly NASA Associate Administrator).


title: New Horizons

text: After separation from the launch vehicle, overall control was taken by Mission Operations Center (MOC) at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County, Maryland. The science instruments are operated at Clyde Tombaugh Science Operations Center (T-SOC) in Boulder, Colorado. Navigation is performed at various contractor facilities, whereas the navigational positional data and related celestial reference frames are provided by the Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station through Headquarters NASA and JPL.


title: New Horizons

text: KinetX is the lead on the "New Horizons" navigation team and is responsible for planning trajectory adjustments as the spacecraft speeds toward the outer Solar System. Coincidentally the Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station was where the photographic plates were taken for the discovery of Pluto's moon Charon. The Naval Observatory itself is not far from the Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" was originally planned as a voyage to the only unexplored planet in the SolarSystem. When the spacecraft was launched, Pluto was still classified as a planet, later to be reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Some members of the "New Horizons" team, including Alan Stern, disagree with the IAU definition and still describe Pluto as the ninth planet. Pluto's satellites Nix and Hydra also have a connection with the spacecraft: the first letters of their names (N and H) are the initials of "New Horizons". The moons' discoverers chose these names for this reason, plus Nix and Hydra's relationship to the mythological Pluto.


title: New Horizons

text: In addition to the science equipment, there are several cultural artifacts traveling with the spacecraft. These include a collection of 434,738 names stored on a compact disc, a piece of Scaled Composites's "SpaceShipOne", a "Not Yet Explored" USPS stamp, and a Flag of the United States, along with other mementos.


title: New Horizons

text: About of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes are aboard the spacecraft, to commemorate his discovery of Pluto in 1930. A Florida-state quarter coin, whose design commemorates human exploration, is included, officially as a trim weight. One of the science packages (a dust counter) is named after Venetia Burney, who, as a child, suggested the name "Pluto" after its discovery.


title: New Horizons

text: The goal of the mission is to understand the formation of the Plutonian system, the Kuiper belt, and the transformation of the early Solar System. The spacecraft collected data on the atmospheres, surfaces, interiors, and environments of Pluto and its moons. It will also study other objects in the Kuiper belt. "By way of comparison, "New Horizons" gathered 5,000 times as much data at Pluto as Mariner did at the Red Planet."


title: New Horizons

text: Some of the questions the mission attempts to answer are: What is Pluto's atmosphere made of and how does it behave? What does its surface look like? Are there large geological structures? How do solar wind particles interact with Pluto's atmosphere?


title: New Horizons

text: The spacecraft is comparable in size and general shape to a grand piano and has been compared to a piano glued to a cocktail bar-sized satellite dish. As a point of departure, the team took inspiration from the Ulysses spacecraft, which also carried a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and dish on a box-in-box structure through the outer Solar System. Many subsystems and components have flight heritage from APL's CONTOUR spacecraft, which in turn had heritage from APL's TIMED spacecraft.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" body forms a triangle, almost thick. (The "Pioneers" have hexagonal bodies, whereas the "Voyagers", "Galileo", and "Cassini–Huygens" have decagonal, hollow bodies.) A 7075 aluminium alloy tube forms the main structural column, between the launch vehicle adapter ring at the "rear", and the radio dish antenna affixed to the "front" flat side. The titanium fuel tank is in this tube. The RTG attaches with a 4-sided titanium mount resembling a gray pyramid or stepstool.


title: New Horizons

text: Titanium provides strength and thermal isolation. The rest of the triangle is primarily sandwich panels of thin aluminum face sheet (less than ) bonded to aluminum honeycomb core. The structure is larger than strictly necessary, with empty space inside. The structure is designed to act as shielding, reducing electronics errors caused by radiation from the RTG. Also, the mass distribution required for a spinning spacecraft demands a wider triangle.


title: New Horizons

text: The interior structure is painted black to equalize temperature by radiative heat transfer. Overall, the spacecraft is thoroughly blanketed to retain heat. Unlike the "Pioneers" and "Voyagers", the radio dish is also enclosed in blankets that extend to the body. The heat from the RTG adds warmth to the spacecraft while it is in the outer Solar System. While in the inner Solar System, the spacecraft must prevent overheating, hence electronic activity is limited, power is diverted to shunts with attached radiators, and louvers are opened to radiate excess heat. While the spacecraft is cruising inactively in the cold outer Solar System, the louvers are closed, and the shunt regulator reroutes power to electric heaters.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" has both spin-stabilized (cruise) and three-axis stabilized (science) modes controlled entirely with hydrazine monopropellant. Additional post launch delta-"v" of over is provided by a internal tank. Helium is used as a pressurant, with an elastomeric diaphragm assisting expulsion. The spacecraft's on-orbit mass including fuel is over on the Jupiter flyby trajectory, but would have been only for the backup direct flight option to Pluto. Significantly, had the backup option been taken, this would have meant less fuel for later Kuiper belt operations.


title: New Horizons

text: There are 16 thrusters on "New Horizons": four and twelve plumbed into redundant branches. The larger thrusters are used primarily for trajectory corrections, and the small ones (previously used on "Cassini" and the "Voyager" spacecraft) are used primarily for attitude control and spinup/spindown maneuvers. Two star cameras are used to measure the spacecraft attitude. They are mounted on the face of the spacecraft and provide attitude information while in spin-stabilized or 3-axis mode. In between the time of star camera readings, spacecraft orientation is provided by dual redundant miniature inertial measurement units. Each unit contains three solid-state gyroscopes and three accelerometers. Two Adcole Sun sensors provide attitude determination. One detects the angle to the Sun, whereas the other measures spin rate and clocking.


title: New Horizons

text: A cylindrical radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) protrudes in the plane of the triangle from one vertex of the triangle. The RTG provided of power at launch, and was predicted to drop approximately every year, decaying to by the time of its encounter with the Plutonian system in 2015 and will decay too far to power the transmitters in the 2030s. There are no onboard batteries since RTG output is predictable, and load transients are handled by a capacitor bank and fast circuit breakers. As of January 2019, the power output of the RTG is about .


title: New Horizons

text: The RTG, model "GPHS-RTG", was originally a spare from the "Cassini" mission. The RTG contains of plutonium-238 oxide pellets. Each pellet is clad in iridium, then encased in a graphite shell. It was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy at the Materials and Fuels Complex, a part of the Idaho National Laboratory.


title: New Horizons

text: The original RTG design called for of plutonium, but a unit less powerful than the original design goal was produced because of delays at the United States Department of Energy, including security activities, that delayed plutonium production. The mission parameters and observation sequence had to be modified for the reduced wattage; still, not all instruments can operate simultaneously. The Department of Energy transferred the space battery program from Ohio to Argonne in 2002 because of security concerns.


title: New Horizons

text: The amount of radioactive plutonium in the RTG is about one-third the amount on board the Cassini–Huygens probe when it launched in 1997. The Cassini launch had been protested by multiple organizations, due to the risk of such a large amount of plutonium being released into the atmosphere in case of an accident. The United States Department of Energy estimated the chances of a launch accident that would release radiation into the atmosphere at 1 in 350, and monitored the launch because of the inclusion of an RTG on board. It was estimated that a worst-case scenario of total dispersal of on-board plutonium would spread the equivalent radiation of 80% the average annual dosage in North America from background radiation over an area with a radius of .


title: New Horizons

text: The spacecraft carries two computer systems: the Command and Data Handling system and the Guidance and Control processor. Each of the two systems is duplicated for redundancy, for a total of four computers. The processor used for its flight computers is the Mongoose-V, a 12 MHz radiation-hardened version of the MIPS R3000 CPU. Multiple redundant clocks and timing routines are implemented in hardware and software to help prevent faults and downtime. To conserve heat and mass, spacecraft and instrument electronics are housed together in IEMs (integrated electronics modules). There are two redundant IEMs. Including other functions such as instrument and radio electronics, each IEM contains 9boards. The software of the probe runs on Nucleus RTOS operating system.


title: New Horizons

text: Communication with the spacecraft is via X band. The craft had a communication rate of at Jupiter; at Pluto's distance, a rate of approximately per transmitter was expected. Besides the low data rate, Pluto's distance also causes a latency of about 4.5 hours (one-way). The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) dishes are used to relay commands once the spacecraft is beyond Jupiter. The spacecraft uses dual modular redundancy transmitters and receivers, and either right- or left-hand circular polarization.


title: New Horizons

text: The downlink signal is amplified by dual redundant 12-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) mounted on the body under the dish. The receivers are new, low-power designs. The system can be controlled to power both TWTAs at the same time, and transmit a dual-polarized downlink signal to the DSN that nearly doubles the downlink rate. DSN tests early in the mission with this dual polarization combining technique were successful, and the capability is now considered operational (when the spacecraft power budget permits both TWTAs to be powered).


title: New Horizons

text: In addition to the high-gain antenna, there are two backup low-gain antennas and a medium-gain dish. The high-gain dish has a Cassegrain reflector layout, composite construction, of diameter providing over of gain and a half-power beam width of about a degree. The prime-focus medium-gain antenna, with a aperture and 10° half-power beam width, is mounted to the back of the high-gain antenna's secondary reflector. The forward low-gain antenna is stacked atop the feed of the medium-gain antenna. The aft low-gain antenna is mounted within the launch adapter at the rear of the spacecraft. This antenna was used only for early mission phases near Earth, just after launch and for emergencies if the spacecraft had lost attitude control.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" recorded scientific instrument data to its solid-state memory buffer at each encounter, then transmitted the data to Earth. Data storage is done on two low-power solid-state recorders (one primary, one backup) holding up to s each. Because of the extreme distance from Pluto and the Kuiper belt, only one buffer load at those encounters can be saved. This is because "New Horizons" would require approximately 16 months after leaving the vicinity of Pluto to transmit the buffer load back to Earth. At Pluto's distance, radio signals from the space probe back to Earth took four hours and 25 minutes to traverse 4.7 billion km of space.


title: New Horizons

text: Part of the reason for the delay between the gathering of and transmission of data is that all of the "New Horizons" instrumentation is body-mounted. In order for the cameras to record data, the entire probe must turn, and the one-degree-wide beam of the high-gain antenna was not pointing toward Earth. Previous spacecraft, such as the "Voyager" program probes, had a rotatable instrumentation platform (a "scan platform") that could take measurements from virtually any angle without losing radio contact with Earth. "New Horizons" was mechanically simplified to save weight, shorten the schedule, and improve reliability during its 15-year lifetime.


title: New Horizons

text: The "Voyager 2" scan platform jammed at Saturn, and the demands of long time exposures at outer planets led to a change of plans such that the entire probe was rotated to make photos at Uranus and Neptune, similar to how "New Horizons" rotated.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" carries seven instruments: three optical instruments, two plasma instruments, a dust sensor and a radio science receiver/radiometer. The instruments are to be used to investigate the global geology, surface composition, surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, atmospheric temperature and escape rate of Pluto and its moons. The rated power is , though not all instruments operate simultaneously. In addition, "New Horizons" has an Ultrastable Oscillator subsystem, which may be used to study and test the Pioneer anomaly towards the end of the spacecraft's life.


title: New Horizons

text: The Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is a long-focal-length imager designed for high resolution and responsivity at visible wavelengths. The instrument is equipped with a 1024×1024 pixel by 12-bits-per-pixel monochromatic CCD imager giving a resolution of 5μrad (~1arcsec). The CCD is chilled far below freezing by a passive radiator on the antisolar face of the spacecraft. This temperature differential requires insulation and isolation from the rest of the structure. The aperture Ritchey–Chretien mirrors and metering structure are made of silicon carbide to boost stiffness, reduce weight and prevent warping at low temperatures. The optical elements sit in a composite light shield and mount with titanium and fiberglass for thermal isolation. Overall mass is , with the optical tube assembly (OTA) weighing about , for one of the largest silicon-carbide telescopes flown at the time (now surpassed by Herschel). For viewing on public web sites the 12-bit per pixel LORRI images are converted to 8-bit per pixel JPEG images. These public images do not contain the full dynamic range of brightness information available from the raw LORRI images files.


title: New Horizons

text: Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) is a toroidal electrostatic analyzer and retarding potential analyzer (RPA), that makes up one of the two instruments comprising "New Horizons" Plasma and high-energy particle spectrometer suite (PAM), the other being PEPSSI. SWAP measures particles of up to 6.5keV and, because of the tenuous solar wind at Pluto's distance, the instrument is designed with the largest aperture of any such instrument ever flown.


title: New Horizons

text: Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) is a time of flight ion and electron sensor that makes up one of the two instruments comprising "New Horizons" plasma and high-energy particle spectrometer suite (PAM), the other being SWAP. Unlike SWAP, which measures particles of up to 6.5keV, PEPSSI goes up to 1MeV. The PEPSSI sensor has been designed to measure the mass, energy and distribution of charged particles around Pluto, and is also able to differentiate between protons, electrons, and other heavy ions.


title: New Horizons

text: "Alice" is an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer that is one of two photographic instruments comprising "New Horizons" Pluto Exploration Remote Sensing Investigation (PERSI); the other being the "Ralph" telescope. It resolves 1,024wavelength bands in the far and extreme ultraviolet (from 50–), over 32view fields. Its goal is to determine the composition of Pluto's atmosphere. This Alice instrument is derived from another Alice aboard ESA's Rosetta spacecraft. The instrument has a mass of 4.4 kg and draws 4.4 watts of power. Its primary role is to determine the relative concentrations of various elements and isotopes in Pluto's atmosphere.


title: New Horizons

text: In August 2018, NASA confirmed, based on results by "Alice" on the "New Horizons" spacecraft, a "hydrogen wall" at the outer edges of the Solar System that was first detected in 1992 by the two Voyager spacecraft.


title: New Horizons

text: The Ralph telescope, 75 mm in aperture, is one of two photographic instruments that make up "New Horizons" Pluto Exploration Remote Sensing Investigation (PERSI), with the other being the Alice instrument. Ralph has two separate channels: MVIC (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera), a visible-light CCD imager with broadband and color channels; and LEISA (Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array), a near-infrared imaging spectrometer. LEISA is derived from a similar instrument on the Earth Observing-1 spacecraft. Ralph was named after Alice's husband on "The Honeymooners", and was designed after Alice.


title: New Horizons

text: On June 23, 2017, NASA announced that it has renamed the LEISA instrument to the "Lisa Hardaway Infrared Mapping Spectrometer" in honor of Lisa Hardaway, the Ralph program manager at Ball Aerospace, who died in January 2017 at age 50.


title: New Horizons

text: The Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (VBSDC), built by students at the University of Colorado Boulder, is operating periodically to make dust measurements. It consists of a detector panel, about , mounted on the anti-solar face of the spacecraft (the ram direction), and an electronics box within the spacecraft. The detector contains fourteen polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) panels, twelve science and two reference, which generate voltage when impacted. Effective collecting area is . No dust counter has operated past the orbit of Uranus; models of dust in the outer Solar System, especially the Kuiper belt, are speculative. The VBSDC is always turned on measuring the masses of the interplanetary and interstellar dust particles (in the range of nano- and picograms) as they collide with the PVDF panels mounted on the "New Horizons" spacecraft. The measured data is expected to greatly contribute to the understanding of the dust spectra of the Solar System. The dust spectra can then be compared with those from observations of other stars, giving new clues as to where Earth-like planets can be found in the universe. The dust counter is named for Venetia Burney, who first suggested the name "Pluto" at the age of 11. A thirteen-minute short film about the VBSDC garnered an Emmy Award for student achievement in 2006.


title: New Horizons

text: The Radio Science Experiment (REX) used an ultrastable crystal oscillator (essentially a calibrated crystal in a miniature oven) and some additional electronics to conduct radio science investigations using the communications channels. These are small enough to fit on a single card. Because there are two redundant communications subsystems, there are two, identical REX circuit boards.


title: New Horizons

text: On September 24, 2005, the spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on board a C-17 Globemaster III for launch preparations. The launch of "New Horizons" was originally scheduled for January 11, 2006, but was initially delayed until January 17, 2006, to allow for borescope inspections of the Atlas V's kerosene tank. Further delays related to low cloud ceiling conditions downrange, and high winds and technical difficulties—unrelated to the rocket itself—prevented launch for a further two days.


title: New Horizons

text: The probe finally lifted off from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, directly south of Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39, at 19:00 UTC on January 19, 2006. The Centaur second stage ignited at 19:04:43 UTC and burned for 5 minutes 25 seconds. It reignited at 19:32 UTC and burned for 9 minutes 47 seconds. The ATK Star 48B third stage ignited at 19:42:37 UTC and burned for 1 minute 28 seconds. Combined, these burns successfully sent the probe on a solar-escape trajectory at . "New Horizons" took only nine hours to pass the Moon's orbit. Although there were backup launch opportunities in February 2006 and February 2007, only the first twenty-three days of the 2006 window permitted the Jupiter flyby. Any launch outside that period would have forced the spacecraft to fly a slower trajectory directly to Pluto, delaying its encounter by five to six years.


title: New Horizons

text: The probe was launched by a Lockheed Martin Atlas V 551 rocket, with a third stage added to increase the heliocentric (escape) speed. This was the first launch of the Atlas V 551 configuration, which uses five solid rocket boosters, and the first Atlas V with a third stage. Previous flights had used zero, two, or three solid boosters, but never five. The vehicle, AV-010, weighed at lift-off, and had earlier been slightly damaged when Hurricane Wilma swept across Florida on October 24, 2005. One of the solid rocket boosters was hit by a door. The booster was replaced with an identical unit, rather than inspecting and requalifying the original.


title: New Horizons

text: The launch was dedicated to the memory of launch conductor Daniel Sarokon, who was described by space program officials as one of the most influential people in the history of space travel.


title: New Horizons

text: On January 28 and 30, 2006, mission controllers guided the probe through its first trajectory-correction maneuver (TCM), which was divided into two parts (TCM-1A and TCM-1B). The total velocity change of these two corrections was about . TCM-1 was accurate enough to permit the cancellation of TCM-2, the second of three originally scheduled corrections. On March 9, 2006, controllers performed TCM-3, the last of three scheduled course corrections. The engines burned for 76 seconds, adjusting the spacecraft's velocity by about . Further trajectory maneuvers were not needed until September 25, 2007 (seven months after the Jupiter flyby), when the engines were fired for 15 minutes and 37 seconds, changing the spacecraft's velocity by , followed by another TCM, almost three years later on June 30, 2010, that lasted 35.6 seconds, when "New Horizons" had already reached the halfway point (in time traveled) to Pluto.


title: New Horizons

text: During the week of February 20, 2006, controllers conducted initial in-flight tests of three onboard science instruments, the Alice ultraviolet imaging spectrometer, the PEPSSI plasma-sensor, and the LORRI long-range visible-spectrum camera. No scientific measurements or images were taken, but instrument electronics, and in the case of Alice, some electromechanical systems were shown to be functioning correctly.


title: New Horizons

text: On April 7, 2006, the spacecraft passed the orbit of Mars, moving at roughly away from the Sun at a solar distance of 243 million kilometers.


title: New Horizons

text: Because of the need to conserve fuel for possible encounters with Kuiper belt objects subsequent to the Pluto flyby, intentional encounters with objects in the asteroid belt were not planned. After launch, the "New Horizons" team scanned the spacecraft's trajectory to determine if any asteroids would, by chance, be close enough for observation. In May 2006 it was discovered that "New Horizons" would pass close to the tiny asteroid 132524 APL on June 13, 2006. Closest approach occurred at 4:05 UTC at a distance of (around one quarter of the average Earth-Moon distance). The asteroid was imaged by Ralph (use of LORRI was not possible because of proximity to the Sun), which gave the team a chance to test Ralph capabilities, and make observations of the asteroid's composition as well as light and phase curves. The asteroid was estimated to be in diameter. The spacecraft successfully tracked the rapidly moving asteroid over June 10–12, 2006.


title: New Horizons

text: The first images of Pluto from "New Horizons" were acquired September 21–24, 2006, during a test of LORRI. They were released on November 28, 2006. The images, taken from a distance of approximately , confirmed the spacecraft's ability to track distant targets, critical for maneuvering toward Pluto and other Kuiper belt objects.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" used LORRI to take its first photographs of Jupiter on September 4, 2006, from a distance of . More detailed exploration of the system began in January 2007 with an infrared image of the moon Callisto, as well as several black-and-white images of Jupiter itself. "New Horizons" received a gravity assist from Jupiter, with its closest approach at 05:43:40 UTC on February 28, 2007, when it was from Jupiter. The flyby increased "New Horizons" speed by , accelerating the probe to a velocity of relative to the Sun and shortening its voyage to Pluto by three years.


title: New Horizons

text: The flyby was the center of a four-month intensive observation campaign lasting from January to June. Being an ever-changing scientific target, Jupiter has been observed intermittently since the end of the "Galileo" mission in September 2003. Knowledge about Jupiter benefited from the fact that "New Horizons" instruments were built using the latest technology, especially in the area of cameras, representing a significant improvement over "Galileo" cameras, which were modified versions of "Voyager" cameras, which, in turn, were modified "Mariner" cameras. The Jupiter encounter also served as a shakedown and dress rehearsal for the Pluto encounter. Because Jupiter is much closer to Earth than Pluto, the communications link can transmit multiple loadings of the memory buffer; thus the mission returned more data from the Jovian system than it was expected to transmit from Pluto.


title: New Horizons

text: One of the main goals during the Jupiter encounter was observing its atmospheric conditions and analyzing the structure and composition of its clouds. Heat-induced lightning strikes in the polar regions and "waves" that indicate violent storm activity were observed and measured. The Little Red Spot, spanning up to 70% of Earth's diameter, was imaged from up close for the first time. Recording from different angles and illumination conditions, "New Horizons" took detailed images of Jupiter's faint ring system, discovering debris left over from recent collisions within the rings or from other unexplained phenomena. The search for undiscovered moons within the rings showed no results. Travelling through Jupiter's magnetosphere, "New Horizons" collected valuable particle readings. "Bubbles" of plasma that are thought to be formed from material ejected by the moon Io were noticed in the magnetotail.


title: New Horizons

text: The four largest moons of Jupiter were in poor positions for observation; the necessary path of the gravity-assist maneuver meant that "New Horizons" passed millions of kilometers from any of the Galilean moons. Still, its instruments were intended for small, dim targets, so they were scientifically useful on large, distant moons. Emphasis was put on Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon, Io, whose active volcanoes shoot out tons of material into Jupiter's magnetosphere, and further. Out of eleven observed eruptions, three were seen for the first time. That of Tvashtar reached an altitude of up to . The event gave scientists an unprecedented look into the structure and motion of the rising plume and its subsequent fall back to the surface. Infrared signatures of a further 36 volcanoes were noticed. Callisto's surface was analyzed with LEISA, revealing how lighting and viewing conditions affect infrared spectrum readings of its surface water ice. Minor moons such as Amalthea had their orbit solutions refined. The cameras determined their positions, acting as "reverse optical navigation".


title: New Horizons

text: After passing Jupiter, "New Horizons" spent most of its journey towards Pluto in hibernation mode. Redundant components as well as guidance and control systems were shut down to extend their life cycle, decrease operation costs and free the Deep Space Network for other missions. During hibernation mode, the onboard computer monitored the probe's systems and transmitted a signal back to Earth; a "green" code if everything was functioning as expected or a "red" code if mission control's assistance was needed. The probe was activated for about two months a year so that the instruments could be calibrated and the systems checked. The first hibernation mode cycle started on June 28, 2007, the second cycle began on December 16, 2008, the third cycle on August 27, 2009, and the fourth cycle on August 29, 2014, after a 10-week test.


title: New Horizons

text: "New Horizons" crossed the orbit of Saturn on June 8, 2008, and Uranus on March 18, 2011. After astronomers announced the discovery of two new moons in the Pluto system, Kerberos and Styx, mission planners started contemplating the possibility of the probe running into unseen debris and dust left over from ancient collisions between the moons. A study based on 18 months of computer simulations, Earth-based telescope observations and occultations of the Pluto system revealed that the possibility of a catastrophic collision with debris or dust was less than 0.3% on the probe's scheduled course. If the hazard increased, "New Horizons" could have used one of two possible contingency plans, the so-called SHBOTs (Safe Haven by Other Trajectories). Either the probe could have continued on its present trajectory with the antenna facing the incoming particles so the more vital systems would be protected, or it could have positioned its antenna to make a course correction that would take it just 3000 km from the surface of Pluto where it was expected that the atmospheric drag would have cleaned the surrounding space of possible debris.


title: New Horizons

text: While in hibernation mode in July 2012, "New Horizons" started gathering scientific data with SWAP, PEPSSI and VBSDC. Although it was originally planned to activate just the VBSDC, other instruments were powered on in order to collect valuable heliospheric data. Before activating the other two instruments, ground tests were conducted to make sure that the expanded data gathering in this phase of the mission would not limit available energy, memory and fuel in the future and that all systems were functioning during the flyby. The first set of data was transmitted in January 2013 during a three-week activation from hibernation. The command and data handling software was updated to address the problem of computer resets.


title: New Horizons

text: Other possible targets were Neptune trojans. The probe's trajectory to Pluto passed near Neptune's trailing Lagrange point (""), which may host hundreds of bodies in 1:1 resonance. In late 2013, "New Horizons" passed within of the high-inclination L5 Neptune trojan , which was discovered shortly before by the New Horizons KBO Search task, a survey to find additional distant objects for "New Horizons" to fly by after its 2015 encounter with Pluto. At that range, would have been bright enough to be detectable by "New Horizons" LORRI instrument; however, the "New Horizons" team eventually decided that they would not target for observations because the preparations for the Pluto approach took precedence.


title: New Horizons

text: Images from July 1 to 3, 2013, by LORRI were the first by the probe to resolve Pluto and Charon as separate objects. On July 14, 2014, mission controllers performed a sixth trajectory-correction maneuver (TCM) since its launch to enable the craft to reach Pluto. Between July 19–24, 2014, "New Horizons" LORRI snapped 12 images of Charon revolving around Pluto, covering almost one full rotation at distances ranging from about . In August 2014, astronomers made high-precision measurements of Pluto's location and orbit around the Sun using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) (an array of radio telescopes located in Chile) to help NASA's "New Horizons" spacecraft accurately home in on Pluto. On December 6, 2014, mission controllers sent a signal for the craft to "wake up" from its final Pluto-approach hibernation and begin regular operations. The craft's response that it was "awake" reached Earth on December 7, 2014, at 02:30 UTC.


title: New Horizons

text: Distant-encounter operations at Pluto began on January 4, 2015. On this date, images of the targets with the onboard LORRI imager plus the Ralph telescope were only a few pixels in width. Investigators began taking Pluto images and background starfield images to assist mission navigators in the design of course-correcting engine maneuvers that would precisely modify the trajectory of "New Horizons" to aim the approach.


title: New Horizons

text: On February 12, 2015, NASA released new images of Pluto (taken from January 25 to 31) from the approaching probe. "New Horizons" was more than away from Pluto when it began taking the photos, which showed Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. The exposure time was too short to see Pluto's smaller, much fainter moons.