Scientific Passion
After eagle-eyed netizens noticed that the new director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center was sworn in on Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot,” we, like everyone else, were very excited — and as it turns out, so was she.
In a statement provided to Futurism, Makenzie Lystrup, the first woman ever to helm Goddard, explained her unique choice of swearing-in literature — and then some.
“Like many astronomers and space scientists,” Lystrup said, “my passion started with watching Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ on public television as a child.”
Apropos To Something
Figures as diverse as Bill Nye and Seth McFarlane cite Sagan as one of their primary inspirations, and, like Lystrup, credit his indefatigable drive to bring science to the masses as one of the best things to happen in recent memory.
“Sagan worked very hard to make science accessible and meaningful to everyone,” she continues, “and ‘Pale Blue Dot’ emphasizes the importance of exploring our universe and understanding our home planet.”
“Given its personal significance to me and how its message resonates with the work we do at NASA Goddard on behalf of the world, it felt apropos to include it in the ceremony,” Lystrup aptly concluded.
Along with providing us with Lystrup’s statement, NASA Goddard also tweeted out a “Monday Motivation” post featuring the now-viral photo of the new director taking her oath, and included a Sagan quote for good measure, too.
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were,” the quote reads, “but without it we go nowhere.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
More from Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, and his son Sam: The Human Family in Crisis