CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: SpaceX is gearing up for its third astronaut launch in under a year, after getting the green light from NASA a week ahead of next Thursday’s planned flight.
Managers from NASA and Elon Musk’s space company Thursday cleared the Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule for a dawn liftoff with a crew of four to the International Space Station. They will spend six months at the orbiting lab, replacing another SpaceX crew that’s close to coming home.
This will be the first crew flight using a recycled Falcon and Dragon. Both were designed for reuse.
The rocket was used to launch the current station crew last November from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The capsule, dubbed Endeavour, also will be making a repeat performance; it carried two test pilots to the space station on SpaceX’s first crew flight last spring.
SpaceX refurbished both and added safety upgrades. Most of the capsule is already “flight proven,” company officials noted, except for some new valves, thermal protection covers and parachutes.
Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s human exploration office, said it was “moving” to be on the verge of flying three SpaceX crew flights in 11 months.
“Looking back, it’s really, really amazing what both the SpaceX and NASA teams have accomplished,” she said.
SpaceX said it must resolve one issue before conducting a test firing at the launch pad this weekend. It appears the company has been loading more liquid oxygen into its first-stage boosters than anticipated, and engineers want to make “extra certain” that poses no safety risks, said Bill Gerstenmaier, a new SpaceX vice president who used to work for NASA.
Three of the astronauts are back for their second space station mission: NASA’s Shane Kimbrough, France’s Thomas Pesquet and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur was part of the final Hubble Space Telescope repair team in 2009.
For nearly a decade, the only route to the space station for astronauts was on Russian rockets. NASA turned to private companies for taxi service after the space shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX has been shipping cargo to the space station since 2012, using the same kind of rocket and similar capsules, and recycling those parts as well.
SpaceX, NASA give ‘go’ for astronaut launch, 3rd for Dragon
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SpaceX, NASA give ‘go’ for astronaut launch, 3rd for Dragon
- SpaceX has been shipping cargo to the space station since 2012, using the same kind of rocket and similar capsules, and recycling those parts as well
Viral phenomenon in Argentina has young people identifying themselves as animals
- As the movement gains traction, psychologists are stepping in to analyze the phenomenon and its place in public discourse
BUENOS AIRES: On a recent Sunday, a Buenos Aires plaza transformed into a makeshift wilderness for an unusual group of teenagers.
Sofía, wearing a lifelike beagle mask, ran across the grass on all fours. Nearby, 15-year-old Aguara leapt through the air, clearing an obstacle course while imitating the precise movements of a Belgian breed dog. Others dressed as cats and foxes perched in the branches of trees, keeping their distance from curious onlookers.
It was the latest gathering of “therians,” individuals who say they identify mentally, spiritually or psychologically with non-human animals. The trend has taken over Argentine social media over the past few months, gaining traction on platforms like TikTok, where the hashtag #therian has surpassed 2 million posts, with Argentina leading all other Latin American countries in engagement. The surge has drawn the attention of influencers and media outlets alike, sparking reactions that range from laughter and bewilderment to outright anger.
And as the movement gains traction, psychologists are stepping in to analyze the phenomenon and its place in public discourse.
Aguara, who claims to identify as a Belgian Malinois and counts her age as the equivalent of two years and two months in dog years, says she’s a lot like any other teenager.
“I wake up like a normal person and live my life like a normal person,” she said. “I simply have moments when I like being a dog.”
As the leader of what she calls her “pack,” Aguara — the name she identifies with — boasts more than 125,000 followers on TikTok and coordinates regular meetups around the Argentine capital.
Aru, a 16-year-old who wore a seal mask to the park meetup, said she considers herself part of the “otherpaw” branch of therians: individuals who wear masks and tails or move on all fours just for fun. “It’s not necessarily about identifying as an animal,” she said.
She reckons the therian trend took off in Argentina because of the country’s “fairly free” environment. For other young Argentines, the movement has provided a vital community where they can feel truly accepted.
Should parents be worried?
Débora Pedace, a psychologist and director of the Integral Therapeutic Center in Buenos Aires, acknowledged that the phenomenon generates a complex mix of confusion, laughter and even anger.
“From a psychological standpoint, this is a symbolic identification with an animal,” Pedace said. “It becomes pathological or alarming only when it turns into a deeply rooted belief and the person fully assumes the role of an animal, potentially leading to self-harm or hurting others.”
