Alan Stern

We really just didn't realize the diversity of planetary types in our solar system. Pluto looked like a misfit because it was the only one we saw. And just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs are still planetary bodies. They're large enough to make themselves round by self gravity, and they surely pass the test of planethood. ”

Either data supports the observations or they don't. Voting doesn't work in science. ”

Pluto has a very interesting history, and there is a lot of work that we need to do to understand this very complicated place. ”

Science doesn't work by voting. Did people vote on the theory of relativity? No! It's either right or it's wrong. Do we vote on whether genetics is a good theory or not? Of course not. ”

Even in our deep ocean, there are ecosystems at work with no light whatsoever down in the deepest portions of the oceanic abyss. ”

Pluto is as far across as Manhattan to Miami, but its atmosphere is bigger than the Earth's. ”

By going to Pluto, we have a chance to anchor, with real data, models of the early evolution of Earth's atmosphere. ”