Jupiter's gravity assist kicked it up (by 9K) to 45,000+ mph.
30,000 mph relative to Pluto.
“Jupiter’s gravity assist kicked it up (by 9K) to 45,000+ mph.”
The interesting misconception about gravity boosts is people think it increases the velocity of the space ship. It does not increase the absolute speed, all acceleration occurs to change the direction of travel. The force of gravity definitely increases the absolute velocity as the space ship approaches the planet, but as the ship travels away from the planet gravity equally decelerates the ship. At the end the ship is traveling at the same velocity relative to some “fixed point” but since the direction has changed, relative to its target, as far as the target is concerned, suddenly their relative velocities have changed greatly.