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

We'll be like kids in a candy shop.

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 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.

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

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.