Keith’s note: You might want to take a closer look of this photo of Dr. Makenzie Lystrup as she is sworn in as the new director of Goddard Space Flight Center. Normally I just pass on these staged pics. But people have noticed something unusual about this photo. Look closely at where Dr. Lystrup’s left hand is. It is on a book. The book is not the Bible. That book is Carl Sagan’s 1994 bestseller “Pale Blue Dot“. Oh my. Why do I suddenly get the urge to apply for a job over in Maryland At Goddard? Anyone who does this has to be cool to work for. Wow. Astrobiologists: take note. Yet NASA PAO does not seem to think that such a symbolic statement – a really cool one at that – is worthy of mention – especially when we worry about the ability of our Pale Blue Dot to survive our tenancy. Just sayin’ Update: @NASAGoddard just tweeted “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.” — Carl Sagan Goddard has a new center director! Last week Dr. Makenzie Lystrup was sworn in on Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” and we’re feeling the #MondayMotivation. https://go.nasa.gov/41fo3y1“ It took them nearly a week – but at least they “get” how cool this is. Now if only @NASA and @NASAastrobio etc could retweet this then the impact could spread. Globally – all across the Pale Blue Dot.🔵

“NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has named Dr. Makenzie Lystrup director of the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, effective immediately. She will make history as the first female center director at Goddard. Lystrup succeeds Dave Mitchell, who has served as Goddard’s acting center director since January 2023, and now resumes his duties as the agency’s chief program management officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington.” More