A space engineer who brought us images of Mars confronts Earth's brutal realities in Gaza
LOS ANGELES -- From his modest home office in Santa Monica this month, Loay Elbasyouni prepared to review rocket engine designs during a meeting on Blue Moon, a spacecraft that in the not-too-distant future will launch astronauts to the moon to explore the surface of its southern pole.
NASA's Artemis V mission, scheduled for 2029, is fifth in a planned series of efforts to return to Earth's lone natural satellite for the first time since the Apollo program. And it's not Elbasyouni's first foray into space exploration.
Before his current job as senior manager of engine electrical design for Blue Origin, a space technology company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, Elbasyouni helped design a lightweight robotic helicopter for NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission. Dubbed "Ingenuity," the aircraft made history in 2021 when it took to the skies above Mars and recorded stunning views of the Red Planet's rocky terrain during its initial trek.
"One thing that I have learned from space is that Earth is very
