Dennis RomeroAs live shots of Mars rover Curiosity's Pasadena-area control room went viral, America was in awe … over one guy's mohawk or, maybe, fauxhawk, depending on your point of view.
Yes, as NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated the unprecedented move of setting a car-sized rover on the red planet with more technology than has ever been in space, jaws dropped over this guy.
His name is Bobak Ferdowsi, and …
… he identifies himself as flight director for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission. He's an MIT grad, apparently.
Gone are the days of middle-aged men with pocket protectors and huge headsets, a la '60s-era Apollo missions.
This ain't Houston.
No, the L.A.-area control room for this mission looked a little like the pitch room for TMZ last night — young and snarky.
Here are some tweets about our friend Bobak:
i don't know much about science but I'm pretty sure we couldn't have done it without Mohawk Guy
@tweetsoutloud— Danny Baranowsky (@dannyBstyle) August 6, 2012
Correction:
@tweetsoutloud has the best (male) hair at@nasajpl.— Boing Boing (@BoingBoing) August 6, 2012
The Atlantic noted that Ferdowsi has set off a torrent of internet memes (see above).
He reportedly goes with a new “do” for every mission. Obviously, this one was special. Ferdowsi tweeted this last night:
Internet, you win this round. I'll be back later, but thanks so much. Now going to celebrate with all my friends and team!
#msl— Bobak F. (@tweetsoutloud) August 6, 2012
One fan even set up a Tumblr blog titled “NASA Needs More Mohawks,” calling Ferdowsi the “coolest guy at NASA.”
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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