Frame grab from White House YouTube video
President Joe Biden displayed child-like enthusiasm Thursday while speaking with and congratulating Swati Mohan, the aerospace engineer and Indian American who lead NASA’s landing of the Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars.
Mohan thanked the president for taking the time to speak with them.
“Are you kidding me. What an honor this is,” the President exclaimed. “This is an incredible honor and it’s amazing Indian of descent Americans are taking over the country. You, my Vice President, my speech writer- thank you. You guys are incredible.”
Besides Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden’s speech writer is Vivek Reddy.
Mohan said her path to NASA started as a child “watching my first episode of Star Trek. In addition to those classical scenes of space, what really captured my attention was this really close knit team who was working together manipulating the technological marvel with the sole purpose of exploring space, and understanding new things and seeking new life,” she said.
Biden applauded Mohan for creating a dream for millions of Americans.
“You guys did it. You guys gave a sense of America is back,” Biden responded.
“One of the reasons why we’re such an incredible country, is we’re such a diverse country. We bring the best out of every single culture in the world. We give people the opportunity to let their dreams run through.”
Mohan deflected the attention from herself and credited the entire NASA team and focused on the thrill of fulfilling the mission.
“To be able to call touchdown safely, to see those first images come back from Mars to see the place we had never been able to go to on Mars before and go there and reach there for the expressed purpose of seeking out new life just made it feel like I was living in a dream.”
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