Gov. Jerry Brown briefly reinstated his "Governor Moonbeam" nickname during a visit with the NASA scientists who successfully landed the Curiosity rover on Mars.

His tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena on Wednesday coincided with the rover taking its first test drive inside a Martian crater. The governor also declared Wednesday as Space Day, a proclamation he first made in 1977 during his first turn in the governor's office.

Brown joked about his nickname, saying, "Of course I talked a little bit too much about space and they began to think I might be a little bit spacey."

He says JPL's work is proof that California remains the land of innovation and called the scientists' work important to the future of the world.

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