[meteorite-list] President Obama Calls NASA's Mars Rover Team Today

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:00:56 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201208132000.q7DK0upG021968_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-240

President Obama Calls NASA's Mars Rover Team Today
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 13, 2012

[Photo]
President Barack Obama talks on the phone with NASA's Curiosity Mars
rover team President Barack Obama talks on the phone with NASA's
Curiosity Mars rover team aboard Air Force One during a flight to Offutt
Air Force Base in Nebraska, Aug. 13, 2012. (Official White House Photo
by Pete Souza)

PASADENA, Calif. - President Barack Obama called members of NASA's
Curiosity Mars rover team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. on Monday to congratulate them on the "incredibly
impressive" mission.

An audio recording of the call and video recording of the JPL team's
portion of the call is available at

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2468166 .

"We could not be more excited," said the President, telling the team
that "it's really mind boggling what you've been able to accomplish."

The president also noted his administration's focus on engineering and
science and math and said that Curiosity is inspiring kids across the
country.

"You know, they're telling their Moms and Dads they want to be part of a
Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars," said the
president. He also said that the quest for knowledge represented by
missions like Curiosity is "really what makes us best as a species, this
curiosity that we have and this yearning to discover and know more."

President Obama's call came a week after Curiosity landed on the Red
Planet. Curiosity carries the most advanced science payload ever used on
Mars' surface. During the next two years, it will use its 10 instruments
to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life
and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

In addition to praising the team's hard work, the president also joked
about finding Martians and noted the popularity of the "Mohawk guy,"
flight director Bobak Ferdowsi.

"You guys are a little cooler than you used to be," he said.

For more information about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, which also is
where the rover's mission control is located. The California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

Veronica McGregor 818-354-9452
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Veronica.mcgregor at jpl.nasa.gov

Michael Cabbage 202-358-1600
NASA Headquarters, Washington
mcabbage at nasa.gov

2012-240
Received on Mon 13 Aug 2012 04:00:56 PM PDT