Gallery: NASA Mohawk Guy Bobak Ferdowsi on Sci-Fi, Legos and Becoming a Meme
Brian van der Brug01bobak-660
As space geeks watched nervously to see if NASA's Curiosity rover would land safely on Mars, many found themselves wondering, "Hey, who's that cool dude with the stars-and-stripes mohawk?" That dude was Bobak Ferdowsi, the activity lead for [NASA's mission to Mars](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/tag/curiosity-rover/), and his crazy haircut made him the internet's new favorite thing. Less than 24 hours after Curiosity touched down, Mohawk Guy had blasted into our collective consciousness. Instant fame led to a [NASA Needs More Mohawks](http://fuckyeahbobakferdowsi.tumblr.com/) Tumblr dedicated to him, a rash of [online marriage proposals](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/nasas-mohawk-guy-gets-galaxy-of-marriage-proposals/), a string of meme photos of Ferdowsi at mission control, and loads of adoring fan art. He also now has [more than 44,000 Twitter followers](https://twitter.com/tweetsoutloud). (Create your own [NASA Mohawk Guy image](http://memegenerator.net/Nasa-Mohawk-Guy).) "I sort of thought this week was just going to be dealing with the emotions of landing," Ferdowsi said in a phone interview with Wired. "But to find out late Sunday, early Monday morning that all of the sudden people were really interested in me, that was totally surreal." Because the internet loves remixing its memes almost as much as it loves making them, there's also now a "Call Me Maybe" version of the Mohawk Guy meme, as well as an *au courant* version with Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney [for the McKayla Is Not Impressed Tumblr](http://mckaylaisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/post/28998999755/mars-rover-lands-unimpressed). Wired caught up with Ferdowsi to talk to him how he created that fabulous hair, seeing William Shatner at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, playing with Legos and what it's like to be a scientist-turned-web-celeb. Look through some of our favorite Mohawk Guy images, and check out what he had to say, in the gallery above. __Above:__ The photo that launched a hundred memes: Ferdowsi in NASA mission control during Curiosity's landing. *Photo: Brian van der Brug/AP*
02becomes-internet-sensation
__Wired:__ How's life as an internet celeb? Did you ever think you would become a meme? __Bobak Ferdowsi:__ No! Funny story, actually at work we sometimes – to make things more lively – we make our own memes about some of the things that are going on with our projects. Like, if we find a good photo of the rover where it looks particularly human or whatever else or sad, we'll make it like "Rover Problems," or we'll put some sort of caption on it. They're probably not as funny to the outside world as they are to us. So it's hilarious to be a meme myself. __Wired:__ What's life been like since this happened? Is it surreal? __Ferdowsi:__ On Sunday, the most I was prepared for was, you know, dealing with the emotions of the outcome of the landing. I've been on this project for nine years; that moment was going to be huge for me either way – good or bad. I don't think I had really thought beyond that moment. *Image via [9gag](http://9gag.com/gag/4960372)*
03bobak-mountain
__Wired:__ Do you have a favorite meme image or piece of fan art that you've seen? __Ferdowsi:__ I have loved a lot of them. One of my favorite things that someone tweeted at me was one that said, "[Will you marry me?](http://twitter.com/amaeryllis/status/232354060945199107) If yes, land a rover on Mars." That's a good one. The other day we were sitting in the operations room and we were down-linking images from the orbiters, and we're getting that data down and somebody was like, "We're getting a new picture, let me process it and put it on the screen." It's a picture of me superimposed on the poster for *Brokeback Mountain* that says "Bobak Mountain" – I think people were laughing for a solid five or 10 minutes. The caption is one of the best parts: "Red rover, red rover, let Bobak come over." I think the whole thing is awesome. I laugh at memes just as much as everybody else. *Image via [Ferdowsi's Twitter](http://twitter.com/tweetsoutloud/status/233050184291082240/photo/1/large)*
04call-me-maybe-2
__Wired:__ So how did you actually get your haircut? Did you do it yourself? __Ferdowsi:__ A good friend of mine is my hairstylist, she does my hair. Her name is Katie \[Encabo\] and she's at the [Factory Studio](http://thefactorystudio.com/) in Pasadena. *Image via [Controlled Descent](http://pristinebiscuit.tumblr.com/post/28881137236)*
05bobak-and-hines
__Wired:__ You change your hair a lot, right? __Ferdowsi:__ I've been doing fun haircuts for various parts of the mission; for example, if we have a big system test, each time we'd have one of those I'd, like, shave maybe the number of the test into the side of my head, or maybe an acronym for something big in that test. For the launch it was red and gold – it was meant to look like a rocket with a plume coming out. (See photo above of Ferdowsi with Erisa Hines.) I think people knew that I was going to do something for this one, so one of my bosses pre-empted me and sent an internet poll out to everybody on the team and was like, "OK, you get to vote on what Bobak's hair looks like this time." That's how we came up with the red-white-and-blue-looking haircut. There were some write-ins. One of them was a reverse-mohawk. I don't know how good that would've looked on TV. __Wired:__ What have been some of your other favorite haircuts? __Ferdowsi:__ I was pretty excited about the launch one – it was pretty launch-looking. I had another one that was a big "X" on the side of my head for the ORT-10 or "Operational Rightness 10." No other particular favorites. It's just a fun way to celebrate the milestones. Otherwise it can be pretty serious and hard work. This can be a fun way of letting loose. *Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech*
06inspires-all-of-us
__Wired:__ What do you think about your mohawk getting people excited about science and space exploration? __Ferdowsi:__ I am so excited about what we do and the science that we do and about NASA and JPL. I think it's the coolest, the stuff that we do. I think mostly it's about the fact that people somehow can realize, "If a guy who looks like that can work at NASA, then I can too." That's awesome. If in any way I can help motivate kids or other people to come join us here to work on these fun things, that would be so rewarding for me. __Wired:__ Do you ever get flak from your NASA colleagues? For this mission or any others? __Ferdowsi:__ \[Before the landing\] some people had been like, "Are people going to let you do your hair like that? Is that going to be OK?" That made me nervous. So I talked to my mission manager Arthur \[Amador\] and I said, "What do you think?" And he said, "Well, Bobak, you're a rebel and rebels don't ask whether it's OK or not – they just do it." It's all in good fun. I don't really take any flak for it. It takes all types to land a rover on Mars. I hope we're all ultimately judged on our performance. *Image via [NASA Needs More Mohawks](http://fuckyeahbobakferdowsi.tumblr.com/image/28931056192)*
07swag
__Wired:__ You're now an inspiration to kids. What inspires you? Were you ever a science fiction reader or anything? __Ferdowsi:__ I'm a giant Arthur C. Clarke fan. I like the fact that his stuff was so based in science, but also so creative and imaginative. I love *Star Trek*. I totally freaked out, actually — William Shatner was here a couple weeks ago at work and I was like, "Oh my god, Captain Kirk!" In general I like the whole concept of pushing toward the future \[in sci-fi\]. It's always kind of an optimistic future and I think that's the part that I really love about it. I always love science fiction, I used to love to draw spaceships \[as a kid\]. Another thing that helped me as a kid was that I played with Legos constantly. I'm sure a lot of kids do, but for me it was not only being creative but being able to build the thing that you've imagined. It's hands-on engineering. We actually use Legos here at work sometimes – more in the early part of the mission – when we're trying to make a quick 3-D model of something. Legos are one of the reasons I ended up where I am. *Image via [Imgur](http://imgur.com/IPNcz,gbZHM)*
08mckayla
__Wired:__ Would you ever take fan suggestions for your next haircut? If we did our own Wired poll, would you take our suggestion? __Ferdowsi:__ You know what? If it was about this project or the science that we do, I would highly consider it. I think it would be fun. \[An online poll\] is a little scary, because if it's Brian Boitano's face on the side of my head or something I think I might pass, but if it was something about this project I would really consider doing it. As long as it's not a write-in poll. \[Laughs\] *Image via [McKayla Is Not Impressed](http://mckaylaisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/post/28998999755/mars-rover-lands-unimpressed)*
