President Obama Calls NASA’s Mars Rover Team Today

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)

This photograph is provided by THE WHITE HOUSE as a courtesy and may be printed by the subject(s) in the photograph for personal use only. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not otherwise be reproduced, disseminated or broadcast, without the written permission of the White House Photo Office. This photograph may not be used in any commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
| › View recording

President Barack Obama called members of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 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.