Yesterday the mission control center in Maryland got the message. New Horizons had phoned (or maybe texted) home, and four and a half hours later, the signal reached Earth.
New Horizons is a long way from home on its way to visit Pluto. And the message was that
the spacecraft had woken up from its final nap. Since the launch in 2006, it's spent about two-thirds of its time in hibernation - this cuts the costs and saves wear and tear on the instruments. They'll be needed for the summer fly-by of Pluto and its moons, but also for the onward journey through the Kuiper Belt.