German Weekly Lauds NASA's Iranian Head Of Mars Mission

Berlin, Aug 13, IRNA -- The Hamburg-based weekly news magazine 'Der Spiegel' on Sunday hailed Babak Ferdowsi who is NASA's Iranian flight director on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission, likening him to a 'pop icon.' It stressed Ferdowsi had become NASA's new 'poster boy' after the 32-year graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commanded the Mars Curiosity Rover operation together with a group of other top qualified engineers. Ferdowsi became an Internet sensation after pictures of him emerged showing his mohawk haircut which he had specially cut for the mission to Mars, which has been a success so far. Dubbed 'the Mohawk Guy' for his rather unique hair style, Ferdowsi has already 46,000 followers on Twitter highlighting his superstar status./end