The first mission to Mars did not expect to find craters and river valleys, and yet they did. The first mission to Jupiter didn't expect to find ocean worlds and volcano worlds, but they did.
Alan SternRead
When I started working with NASA in 1989 as part of a mission to send spacecraft to Pluto, I knew it would take at least 10-15 years to see results of my efforts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of patience and long-term vision in achieving significant scientific goals.
Alan Stern's quote reflects the reality of scientific exploration, particularly in ambitious projects such as sending spacecraft to distant destinations like Pluto. It highlights that groundbreaking work, especially in fields like space exploration, often requires a prolonged commitment and the understanding that meaningful results may take years or even decades to materialize, underscoring the need for perseverance and dedication in the pursuit of knowledge.
Themes
PatienceScienceDedicationLong-TermExploration
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage students pursuing careers in STEM fields.
More from Alan Stern
All quotes →I can't imagine how many kids around the world will look at pictures of Pluto and think, 'I want to grow up to be a scientist.'
Alan SternRead
If two billion people wanted to watch a robot fly by Pluto, imagine what it will be like when the first humans step on Mars. It'll be the most unifying event anybody could ever put on.
Alan SternRead
We're going to find Marses and maybe Earths out in the solar system's attic of the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt.
Alan SternRead
Similar quotes
Genes are not about inevitabilities; they're about potentials and vulnerabilities.
Robert SapolskyRead
According to 'M' theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, 'M' theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing.
Stephen HawkingRead
So, influenced by these advisors and this hope, I have at length allowed my friends to publish the work, as they had long besought me to do.
Nicolaus CopernicusRead
The scientific observer of Nature is a kind of mystic seeker in the act of prayer.
Muhammad IqbalRead
Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.
Galileo GalileiRead
Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and crushed if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain.
Thomas HuxleyRead