بابک فردوسی Bobak Ferdowsi’s Mohawk Blows Up Twitter As NASA’s Curiosity Rover Lands On Mars

“Curiosity” got the best of the internet last night.

On August 6, around 1:30am, the NASA rover Curiosity successfully landed on Mars after a perilous “seven minutes of terror.” The livestream and television coverage of the event showed the rover’s journey, as well as Mission Control overseeing the landing.

But the internet’s attention was split.

Among the the tense faces and blue-shirted NASA workers, one man stood out from the rest. Activity Lead Bobak Ferdowsi’s red and blue tinged mohawk, with yellow stars dyed on the side of his head, quickly caught the focus of viewers, spawning memes and Twitter posts to rally around Curiosity, as well as the “NASA mohawk guy.” A Tumblr account titled “NASA Needs More Mohawks,” devoted to Ferdowsi’s awesomeness, features a now-iconic photo of Ferdowsi in the control room, with the caption, “Guides a rover through space and into my heart.”