SpaceX Launch
October 30, 2018
On Oct. 7, SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The goal of this mission was to send a satellite into orbit for the Argentina Space Agency.
SpaceX was attempting their first Falcon 9 landing on the West Coast. They were successful in their attempt, and this will reduce the cost of space travel because now companies like SpaceX will be able to reuse their rockets, saving millions of dollars.This also means that the probability of sending people to Mars is greater since SpaceX can launch multiple missions without having to worry about the exorbitant price tag of a rocket.
A selection process currently in progress to send a manned trip to Mars; there are only around forty candidates and Mars-One will continue to select new candidates every 26 months.
Senior Francisco Martinez had this to say about the possibility of going to Mars in the future.
“I feel like it’ll take us seven years to launch a manned trip to Mars,” Martinez said, “but I would go if I had nothing else to do on Earth.”
The Falcon 9 alone costs $62 million dollars, and its successor the Falcon Heavy cost even more with a price tag of $90 million dollars.
Since the launch was in Southern California, nearby residents were able to see the launch from their backyards. Local student Diego Pasaye, 10, saw the event.
“My abuela called me out to the backyard to see something in the sky,” Pasaye said, “and when I went out there was the bright light moving in the sky, I thought it was aliens.”
Diego later found out that it was SpaceX launching a satellite into space.
“That’s pretty cool; I didn’t know they would launch that close,” Pasaye said. “Hopefully another one launches soon.”
On the other side of Downey, resident and senior Omar Aguilar viewed the event from his backyard.
“I was helping my brother work on his truck in the backyard, and he said look up,” Aguilar said. “I saw this bright light in the night sky and it looked amazing.”
With this resurgence of space travel, we enter the new space race. Where now instead of nations competing to explore space, private companies such as SpaceX are now leading the way. This recent launch showcases the capability SpaceX has to explore the final frontier of space.

Michael has something to him that I don’t really see in much people. He has a personality you honestly can’t dislike in anyway, even if you tried. The way he goes about school and his friends and just really life is something to truly be admired.
He rarely lets the negativity he encounters affect him. Michael always manages to find some that will make him happy, even when there really isn’t much to be happy about. Whether he plays a weird song that he likes or just wants to be around his friends, he’ll find a way to keep himself in the best mood possible which is hard for anyone to do, and yet he does it like nothing.
Micheal when it comes to his work is great. He knows how to get along with anyone he works with. I got to see this up front, as I worked with him on podcast and man was he fun to work with. When he came to podcast from being a writer, he had so many ideas that just clicked right away like “hey, that's actually a really good idea” and we all genuinely thought that he had good ideas for podcasts. I don’t think there is one idea he brought up that we turned down, and once we agreed to his idea, he made it work well. He just has a knack to spread his thoughts onto others and get them to like it.
The thing that made all of personality click is that he is s not trying to be someone he’s not. Michael is someone that will be himself no matter who or what is in front of him, and that’s what really shapes him into a great person. People get caught up in trying to get everyone to like them and being friends with everyone, but not him. He just wants to be himself, which is really what makes him such a fantastic figure and a truly enjoyable friend to have in anyone’s life.
-Enrique Jimenez

“I’m really looking forward to practicing animation and getting out there.” Contreras stated.
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