Alice Bowman, the Mission Operations Manager for New Horizons, after confirmation of the spacecrafts successful Pluto flyby:
Well, gee. Im not sure how to follow that. I havent had a lot of sleep. It is truly weve been using this word a lot amazing, because its the one that just pops to the tip of our tongue to say. An awesome team. The recovery was flawless, and it had to be flawless. We were up to the challenge. We met it.
And on a personal note, I cant express how Im feeling to have achieved a childhood dream of space exploration. Im pretty overwhelmed at this moment, and I just want to say thank you to everyone. And please tell your children and anybody out there: Do what youre passionate about. Dont do something because its easy. Do something because you want to do it. Give yourself that challenge, and you will not be sorry for it. So here we go. Out to the solar system.
Via Mark Siegal