US President Joe Biden said it was amazing that Indian-Americans were “taking over” his country. He was congratulating NASA engineer Swati Mohan and team after the historic landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Around 55 Indian-Americans hold key positions in the Biden administration.
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00:00And it's amazing. Indian of descent Americans are taking over the country.
00:07We have Dr. Mohan here with me. Of course, you know her from the landing covers.
00:14Hey, Doc. How are you?
00:17I'm doing very well, Mr. President.
00:20I just want you to know.
00:21Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
00:23Are you kidding me? What an honor this is. This is an incredible honor.
00:27And it's amazing. Indian of descent Americans are taking over the country.
00:33You, my vice president, my speechwriter, Vanai, I tell you what.
00:38But thank you. You guys are incredible.
00:41Did you want to say something? I'll be quiet.
00:46You're an absolute pleasure. Tell us how you felt about that.
00:49And actually, what path brought you to Heroes 11?
00:52Absolutely. My path actually started way back when I was a child watching my first episode of Star Trek.
01:00It was just those fantastical scenes of space.
01:04What really captured my attention was this really close-knit team who was working together,
01:12manipulating the technological marvel with the sole purpose of exploring space
01:18and understanding new things and seeking new life.
01:21You know, Perseverance is my first mission at JPL where I've gotten to work from the very beginning of a formulation
01:29all the way through operations.
01:32And it made me feel like I was part of that crew.
01:37Being able to work with this incredibly diverse, talented team that has become like a family,
01:45spending years creating our own technological marvel has been a privilege.
01:51You know, those last days and weeks leading up to landing day, it was pretty smooth,
01:58but we were all still really nervous and, frankly, terrified until we got through those final seven minutes.
02:08To be able to call touchdown safely, to see those first images come back from Mars,
02:17to see the place where we had never been able to go to on Mars before,
02:23and go there, reach there for the express purpose of seeking out new life,
02:30just made it feel like I was living in a dream.
02:35Now that that tremendous relief has passed for the team of being able to be there safely,
02:40all that's left is the excitement and the thrill of all the scientific discoveries that are yet to come
02:48of what Perseverance can actually find and hopefully find the signs of life on Mars.
02:55I'll tell you what, you said you feel like you're living a dream?
02:58You've created a dream for millions and millions of young kids, young Americans.
03:04You talk about STEM.
03:06Look, the thing that I found so exhilarating about this, you all did this, the whole team,
03:13the team I can see now and the entire team at JPL.
03:17What you did, you restored a dose of confidence in the American people.
03:22They're beginning to wonder about us.
03:24They're beginning to wonder are we still the country we always believed we were.
03:28You guys did it.
03:30You guys gave a sense of America's back.
03:34It's astounding what you did.
03:37You should not underestimate it.
03:39You should not underestimate it.
03:41You know, you did it the most American way.
03:44You believed in science.
03:46You believed in hard work and you believed in what a darn thing you couldn't do if you put your minds together.
03:52One of the reasons why we're such an incredible country is we're such a diverse country.
03:57We bring the best out of every single solitary culture in the world here in the United States of America.
04:04And we give people an opportunity to let their dreams run forward.
04:10And I can't tell you how much, you know, everyone was so down the last years about is America still the font of change
04:24and are we still the country that has hopes and develops and pursues the most unlikely things to happen.
04:32And we are.
04:34And you all demonstrated it.
04:36Look, I really mean this.
04:39It's so much bigger than landing Perseverance on Mars.
04:44It's about the American spirit.
04:46And you brought it back.
04:48You brought it back in a moment we so desperately needed.