# Dr. Alan Stern: From Pluto to the Stars

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-s-tough-explorers-are-tougher-3600599/dr-alan-stern-from-pluto-to-the-stars
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-s-tough-explorers-are-tougher-3600599/dr-alan-stern-from-pluto-to-the-stars.md
Podcast: [Life’s Tough, Explorers Are TOUGHER!](https://stenobird.com/podcast/life-s-tough-explorers-are-tougher-3600599)
Published: 2025-12-01T16:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2440723/episodes/18245644-dr-alan-stern-from-pluto-to-the-stars.mp3
Audio file: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2440723/episodes/18245644-dr-alan-stern-from-pluto-to-the-stars.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/life-s-tough-explorers-are-tougher-3600599/episodes/dr-alan-stern-from-pluto-to-the-stars
Duration seconds: 1645

## Resource

In this episode of Life’s Tough, Explorers are Tougher, planetary scientist Dr. Alan Stern shares his journey from childhood awe during Apollo 11 to leading NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. Alan opens up about early failures — including flunking out of college — and how hard labor and reflection transformed his drive to succeed in science. He revisits the tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion that changed his path from engineer to astrophysicist, setting the stage ...

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## Transcript

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