NASA leaders discuss global challenges, solutions with Mexico president, lawmakers and students

In a frequently tense relationship often defined by a shared border, the United States sent two officials with a different perspective to Mexico this week for a bit of space diplomacy. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy – both former astronauts --spent two hours chatting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Tuesday, took selfies with federal lawmakers and a day earlier spoke to an auditorium full of students and faculty from various Mexican universities. “It’s a human thing to want to explore and to understand, so we go to space because it offers a unique vantage point that allows us to look down on the earth and study the earth as a planet,” Melroy said.