'NASA Mohawk guy' outshines Curiosity

As the Mars probe Curiosity landed safely on the red planet and began a two-year mission to see if it could ever have supported life, NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowsi's hair took up just as much attention.

Once photos from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory made the news, Ferdowsi started turning heads. After he was identified, he went from having fewer than 200 Twitter followers to more than 19,000.

Nasa's brightest star: Bobak Ferdowsi cuts his hair differently for each mission. He made heads turn andu00a0now hasu00a0over 19,000 Twitter followers. Pic/AFP

u00a0Ferdowsi didn't always sport a Mohawk. He changes his hairstyle before every mission and allowed his team vote on his ‘do' for Curiosity's landing. His new Internet fans are already creating their own fan art and adding captions to his photos like "You'll never get a good job with a haircut like that" and "Becomes an Internet sensation, too busy landing a robot on Mars to notice."

He's even got an enthusiastic, profanely titled Tumblr blog devoted to him, which declares "NASA needs more Mohawks."u00a0Ferdowsi turned to his suddenly popular Twitter feed and wrote, "Internet, you win this round. I'll be back later, but thanks so much. Now going to celebrate with all my friends and team!"

Marriage proposals
After becoming a sensation, Ferdowsi also received some marriage proposals: u00a0Awesome. RT @dodsonw8: @tweetsoutloud I know you've been busy, but will you marry me? land something on mars if the answer is yes.u00a0@tweetsoutloud AKA #MohawkGuy. Dear Bobak Ferdowsi: Please marry me. Sincerely - The Internetu00a0