Alan Stern Quotations

Whether or not an object has a moon is not part of the criteria that we've considered, because so many small objects in the solar system have moons,

We're realizing just how much there is to the deep, outer solar system. I think it's exciting that textbooks have to be rewritten, over and over.

It'll be the fastest spacecraft ever to Jupiter...13 months after launch. We pass the Moon in just nine hours.

It's strictly coincidental that Pluto of course was named for the god of the underworld and we're describing these Halloween moons

Naming celestial objects is usually done by astronomers and professionals. Other people who are interested in space never get the opportunity to do that kind of thing.

We're just learning that a lot of planets are small planets, and we didn't know that before, fact is, in planetary science, objects such as Pluto and the other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt are considered planets and called planets in everyday discourse in scientific meetings.

This is in a real sense the capstone of the initial missions to explore the planets. Pluto, its moons and this part of the solar system are such mysteries that New Horizons will rewrite all of the textbooks.

It used to be said that Pluto is a misfit. But now we know Earth is the misfit. This is the most populous class of planet in our solar system and we have never sent a mission to this class.

We'll be like kids in a candy shop.

We really expect the mission to be transformational. This is the capstone of the original visits to the planets. It takes us 4 billion miles away and 4 billion years back in time.

Some of Clyde's ashes are on their way to Pluto today.

Some models say the collapse can be very sudden. It can happen in a matter of months.

Pluto is just the brightest of the many objects in the Kuiper Belt. It's a fossil relic of the formation of our solar system.

I don't believe we should classify planetary objects by location. We should use properties of the objects as a guide.

I have July 14, 2015, emblazoned on my calendar. That's our arrival date at Pluto. We are now quite certain of that.

Just on a visceral level, the fact that Pluto has a whole suite of companions will make some people feel better.

I will say that this has been our project mascot for a long time, this little ground-down pencil. And it represents perseverance to get this project under way, to get it built, to get it launched and now to get it to Pluto.

Just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs are still planetary bodies.

Our result suggests that other bodies in the Kuiper Belt may have more than one moon as well,

Our result suggests other bodies in the Kuiper Belt may have more than one moon. It also means planetary scientists will have to take these new moons into account when modeling the formation of the Pluto system.

Out Earth-based observations are still too crude to tell us much about what we'll see when we finally get there. We still don't know what we don't know about Pluto.

The air conditioning was off. The flight controllers were sitting there wiping sweat.

I ... was not comfortable with launching without backup power. I've been working on this for 17 years ... Two or three days doesn't mean a hill of beans.

We've learned that the view of four inner rocky planets and four outer gas giants and one misfit Pluto is wrong. Now we understand Pluto's context.

We know of 17 objects that could be called planets, most of which are ice dwarfs. So Pluto is typical of what is probably the most populous type of planet in our solar system. It probably mimics other Kuiper Belt objects.

The payload that we're flying is a much more advanced payload than we could have flown, for example, in the last Jupiter launch window ten years ago.

Two or three days doesn't mean a hill of beans.

Exploring Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is like conducting an archaeological dig into the history of the outer solar system, a place where we can peek into the ancient era of planetary formation.

We'll have to divide our attention four ways instead of two,

We thank them for being here with us.

We're going to be like kids in a candy shop when we arrive at a system like this.

Even though it's not as sensitive or as high resolution as the Hubble, we're able to look at the inner planets close to the sun and map wide regions of the sky very quickly.

The United States is going to go down in history for the initial reconnaissance of the planets.

Some people think its 20 years off and some people think its five years off. No one really knows when Pluto's atmosphere will snow out and collapse.

This is a whole new chapter in the Pluto story.

This is, in a very real sense, the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets that the United States has led for the world since the 1960s.

This is the capstone of the missions to the planets that NASA has led since the 1960s.

This is the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets, the first mission to the last planet.

It provides for us a window 41/2 billion years back in time to observe the formation conditions of giant planets. This is a little bit about rewriting the textbooks about the outer planets.

It's now our job to be good stewards of the spacecraft. and to learn to fly it in the real environment that it was built for.

Its surface is only 40 degrees above absolute zero, covered with exotic ice. We think it's going to be like kids in a candy store, arriving in a system like this.

It's really going spectacularly well. The whole approach to testing a spacecraft is to walk before you run.

It's ... strictly coincidental that Pluto of course was named for the god of the underworld and we're describing these Halloween moons.

It's ... strictly coincidental that Pluto, of course, was named for the god of the underworld and we're describing these Halloween moons.

SWUIS operated flawlessly. We think we've got some great data in our pocket including some spectacular data on the mapping of the moon.

SWUIS operated flawlessly, ... We think we've got some great data in our pocket including some spectacular data on the mapping of the moon.

It'll be the fastest spacecraft ever to Jupiter13 months after launch. We pass the Moon in just nine hours.

Not even Tombaugh and his mentors could have forecast how fascinating their new planet would turn out to be.

It used to be that Pluto was a misfit. Now it turns out that Earth is the misfit. Most planets in the solar system look like Pluto, and not like the terrestrial planets.

It took us more years to get the mission beyond the Washington beltway than it will take to cross the entire Solar System.

The U.S. has a spacecraft on its way to Pluto, on to the Kuiper belt and on to the stars.

This is in a very real sense the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets that the United States has led for the world since the 1960s.

Around 20 percent of Kuiper Belt objects have a moon. We think a lot of astronomers are going to be looking now for multiple satellite systems.

The Kuiper Belt is the largest structure in the solar system. We used to think Pluto was a misfit.

I jokingly say now that New Horizons is the first mission to the nearest example of the last planet.

In a real sense, this is not just a 4 billion-mile journey, but also a journey 4 billion years back in time.

I?m calling the discovery of the two new satellites the first scientific result of New Horizons.

I like to call this mission the Everest of planetary exploration. It's really fantastic.

These policies represented the hopes and the plans of those that were murdered in the Holocaust. They had taken out policies in order to protect their families.