John Holdren, Director of Science and Technology Policy:
“I’m delighted at this latest accomplishment by NASA, another first that demonstrates once again how the United States leads the world in space. New Horizons is the latest in a long line of scientific accomplishments at NASA, including multiple missions orbiting and exploring the surface of Mars in advance of human visits still to come; the remarkable Kepler mission to identify Earth-like planets around stars other than our own; and the DSCOVR satellite that soon will be beaming back images of the whole Earth in near real-time from a vantage point a million miles away. As New Horizons completes its flyby of Pluto and continues deeper into the Kuiper Belt, NASA's multifaceted journey of discovery continues."
Pluto is three billion miles away. We took a ten year road trip to take pictures of it. We came less than ten thousand miles from the surface. Let us collectively take a moment to contemplate the math required to obtain these breathtaking photos.