Astronaut Raja Chari belongs to the Artemis team from which the next members of future expeditions will be selected. He is to command the SpaceX Crew-3 mission set for September. When JPL Director Michael Watkins introduced Mohan, Biden said: “Hey Doc, how are you?” Mohan said she was well and as she began to thank him for taking the time to speak to them, he cut her off, saying,:”Are you kidding me? What an honour this is, what an incredible honour this is” (for him to speak to her). After mentioning the achievement of Indian-Americans, he told her: “Did you want to say something? I’ll be quiet.” Mohan said she hoped that Perseverance would be able to find new life on Mars.

She recalled to him the moments before the Perseverance landed on the Red Planet: Although it was going pretty smooth, the team was “really nervous and, frankly, terrified until we got through those final seven minutes”. Mohan, who guided the rover safely to a soft landing, said: “To be able to call ‘touchdown’ safely, to see those first images come back from Mars, to see the place where we have never been able to go to on Mars before and go there -- reach there for the express purpose of seeking out new life just made it feel like I was living in a dream.”

Biden replied: “I tell you what, you feel like you live in a dream, you’ve created a dream for millions and millions of young kids and young Americans. “You restored a dose of confidence in the American people. They were beginning to wonder if we are still the country we always believed we were. You guys did it. You guys gave a sense of America’s back. It’s astounding what you did. You should not underestimate it.”