164 Quotes by Alan Stern

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.