SpaceX to the rescue for couple
The SpaceX mission to rescue two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) is getting more tense as the health of one of the NASA astronauts, 59-year-old Sunita Williams, is called into question.
If you haven’t been keeping up with this story, the bottom line is — two astronauts went on what was supposed to be an eight-day trip last June. After their Boeing capsule docked with the space station, anomalies were noticed, and it was determined that it would be unsafe for the two astronauts to use it on a return flight.
The Boeing Starliner capsule returned to earth without the crew in early September, approximately two months ago.
SpaceX fired off one of its rockets and four-man capsule from Cape Canaveral two months ago, with two empty seats, meant for Williams and her fellow astronaut, Butch Wilmore. The plan is to return to earth in February 2025, approximately three months from now.
There is a catch, though, even if NASA says it’s nothing to worry about. Namely, recent photos show a gaunt-looking “Suni” Williams.
Apparently, women typically lose muscle at a faster rate than their male counterparts. Williams, 5-foot-8, according to NASA, started out the mission weighing 140 pounds. The space agency hasn’t said what she currently weighs, but to maintain her current weight, she must consume approximately 3,500 to 4,000 calories per day. (Source: NY Post.)
Astronauts at the space station must also exercise two hours per day to maintain their weight in a zero-gravity environment.
Point to all of this, which is significant to the RGV since SpaceX is now located in South Texas (Boca Chica), is that NASA decided to use SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to bring back the two astronauts instead of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, due to concerns about the reliability of the Starliner.
By the way, if you love space and astronauts, adult or teen, and you like to read, go immediately to the closest bookstore, library, near you, online or brick-and-mortar, and buy, check out, a copy of Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff.”
Greatest astronaut book ever written, bar none. The movie wasn’t bad either, but it can’t top the book.
The Amazing Elon Musk
Love him or hate him for weighing in on this presidential election, but the pro-Trump Elon Musk is a force to be reckoned with, and one of those people who can’t escape notice. Okay, he’s the World’s Richest Person (Source: Forbes), clocking in at approximately $310 billion.
By comparison, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is worth a paltry $224 billion; Mark Zuckerberg, $202 billion.
It’s Musk who fascinates most people, perhaps because he’s tied so closely with space, the final frontier. Plus, he’s trying to revolutionize the auto industry with his Tesla, car and truck. Whether or not he will succeed with that is subject to debate.
What’s not up for debate, though, or so think many, are his accomplishments with SpaceX, which now employs close to 4,000 people at its Starbase facility, located at old Boca Chica Beach near the mouth of the Rio Grande, which was about as barren as barren can be before Musk planted his flag there approximately 10 years ago.
This summer, the billionaire said he would relocate SpaceX HQ to Boca Chica and his social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, to Austin.
The reason?
The new law that California signed into law, which Gov. Newsom spearheaded, that barred school districts from notifying parents if their child said he or she wanted a change on their gender identification. You know, the minor stuff.
Said Musk, “This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas (Boca Chica).
He later added that X’s HQ will also move from San Francisco to Austin.
Born in South Africa, Musk became a U.S. citizen at the age of 31 after he was already a billionaire, thanks to his part-ownership and sale of Pay Pal.
Taking $100 million from the sale of PP, Musk founded SpaceX in 2002.
As they say, the rest is history.
This election cycle, with space apparently in mind, Elon Musk was walking around with a T-shirt that read: Colonize Mars.
Meanwhile, hopefully Astronaut “Suni” Williams won’t lose any more weight.