Welcome to the world’s foremost training ground for saving space from disasters, disputes, and—perhaps one day—colonizers named Musk.
It looked like an aluminum beach ball with four car antennas sticking out. Stuffed with radio transmitters, history’s first human-made satellite emitted a spectral beeping signal from its solitary orbit for just three weeks before its batteries died. That was enough to terrify the world. The Soviet Union’s 1957 surprise launch of Sputnik was, famously, the jump scare that startled the United States into a space race.
” Katsande, who liked to sleep with the lights on, was a natural leader and speaker who came to draft the group’s written arguments. Mujegu was a bit rough around the edges , but had a keen mind for legal technicalities. And Ndou was sensitive, hardworking, difficult to provoke, and fluent on the podium. “She’s brilliant,” Katsande says. After boot camp, the Midlands team members had a few days before they would officially compete against teams from Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.