Stephen Hawking posts his reaction to New Horizons' Pluto mission

On the morning of July 14th, after traveling for nearly 10 years, New Horizons reached its Pluto flyby destination point.

Stephen Hawking was quick to extend his praise on the historic accomplishment, posting a message on Facebook.

He wrote, "I would like to congratulate the New Horizons team and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration for their historic flyby of Pluto...I can't wait to see what new information the New Horizons spacecraft will reveal about our distant relative."

The highly regarded physicist included a video in the post.

In the video, he expounds upon the great importance of the Pluto mission.

Hawking notes, "The revelations of New Horizons may help us to understand better how our solar system was formed. We explore because we are human, and we want to know. I hope that Pluto will help us on that journey."

New Horizons is expected to make contact with Earth-bound scientists soon.

It shut down communications with Earth during the Pluto flyby to dedicate its processing power to collecting data.