Tuesday morning marked the closest a manmade object has ever come to Pluto, the icy and mysterious dwarf planet that lies three billion miles beyond Earth. While many have remarked on the importance of today's successful mission — it is, in a sense, the culmination of an era of space exploration — perhaps no praise resonates more than that offered by physicist Stephen Hawking.
"Now the Solar System will be further opened up to us, revealing the secrets of mysterious Pluto," Hawking said. "The revelations of New Horizons may help us to better understand how our solar system was formed. We explore because we are human, and we long to know. I hope that Pluto will help us on that journey."
Watch the full video, below. Jeva Lange