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SpaceX Continues to Make History Sia Willie Talks Liberia and Ebola
SpaceX plans to reduce space-travel costs and enable the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has successfully collaborated with other Throughout history, humanity has gazed up to the famous space programs like NASA in the past. On stars, pondering the limitless possibilities they possess. August 18, 2006 NASA announced that SpaceX had In the past 60 years alone, mankind has begun making won a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract from NASA. those dreams a reality, sending men This enables the SpaceX into orbit and the moon. The numerous program to send cargo goods to space programs that achieved these the International Space Station great accomplishments have one thing and with the possibility of crew in common: they have all been funded transport. and backed by the program’s country On August 3, 2012, NASA of origin. Until recently, the possibility announced that they were of a privately owned space program collaborating with SpaceX to was thought impossible. The privately develop the next generation of funded company, SpaceX is committed manned space shuttle vehicles, to developing space-exploration projects enabling a launch of astronauts and other space programs . from U.S soil in the next five SpaceX was founded in 2002 by the years. South-African born, Canadian-American Even after Virgin Galactic’s inventor, Elon Musk. Elon Musk has disastrous mission that killed successfully founded and co-founded one pilot and injured another, numerous companies, including Zip2, Wilmington Friends School Paypal and Tesla Motors. Musk took an students seemed upbeat about the interest in space-exploration technologies future of SpaceX. Jake Nolen, and founded SpaceX. The company’s ‘17, said, “I think SpaceX is a purpose was to improve and innovate step in the right direction because space exploration technologies and bring it will help our astronauts get the prospect of space travel to the masses. into space from the U.S. instead SpaceX has accomplished many SpaceX Dragon Rocket of foreign countries.” Andrew historic achievements, including the first Slomski, ‘17, stated, “ they seem privately funded, liquid fueled rocket to to be doing good things because reach orbit, the Falcon 1. On July 14, 2009, Falcon 1 successfully delivered the Malaysian they want to bring privatization to the space industry, RazakSat satellite into orbit in SpaceX’s first commercial which would help move it forward.” SpaceX seems to be an intriguing step forward in the history of space launch. Other achievements of SpaceX include the first exploration. The impressive achievements, and goals for privately funded mission to retrieve a spacecraft in space the future will mark SpaceX’s place in the history of space and transportation to the international space station. exploration and travel.
Continued from page 1 We then discussed the precautions that her relatives take to protect themselves from the disease. “The first thing is just making sure everyone stays sanitary. My aunt mentioned that she does not greet her family members. She goes straight to the bathroom and takes her clothes off in the shower. She sanitizes herself, takes a bath, they stay away from each other for a few hours, then she rejoins. So those are a few precautions they are trying to take. If they do have a gathering, my cousin was actually saying they will wipe down their drink bottles with sanitizer. A lot of people aren’t shopping at market places, so they are getting their food from supermarkets which is a little on the expensive side, so that is affecting things too.” Q: In what ways do people in Liberia view the ebola crisis differently than the international community? Sia Willie: “It’s tricky, because when Ebola first broke out, people were wondering if Liberia was just crying because they wanted financial help. ‘Is this real?’ And then there were people who were thinking ‘you are poisoning us so you can get assistance.’ So you had all these people with their conspiracy theories. My uncle was telling me that they heard about it really early on but they thought, ‘Oh, it’s all the way in the villages right now so it will never reach us in the city.’ So it was devastating when they realized how much and how rapidly it was spreading. My cousin who is actually leaving today to go back, he’s been here for three months, said it hit him when our uncle, Samuel Brisbane, who was the chief medical doctor at JFK Hospital, died. His friend said, ‘listen, you’ve got the means to go to America. You’ve got to go and tell our story. Somebody’s gotta survive.’ So he came and he’s been here for three months and he wants to go back and help. . . . I can’t even wrap my head around it. Even though we’ve been hearing stories about it and talking to family members and sending money to them to make sure they’re getting care, it’s still really hard for me to wrap my head around it.” Q: What are ways you think Wilmington Friends students should understand Liberia as we continue our efforts to be good global citizens? Sia Willie: “The first thing you need in order to be an effective global citizen is to know yourself, so when you reach out to join or explore the rest of the world and engage in different things, you are grounded in who you are and you know where you stand. Know the lens that you see the world through, so you’re ready to receive it back. My grandmother worked with the World Health Organization, so we traveled a lot around Africa and by being grounded in ‘I’m Liberian, and this is who I am!’, going around to other people, I didn’t feel ashamed, and even though my country has struggled so much, I am proud of who I am. Even here it’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m a Liberian living in America’, but I’m excited about me, and I’m not going to deny who I am, but I want to learn about other people, and I want my own children to learn about other people, and I want them to celebrate other people. It’s important to explore other cultures by finding the similarities, the things that brings us together, because the bottom line is that we are people. We all have our needs and our wants. We all have our things that guide us and our things that inspire us. I think the last part is just being open and respecting. Even if you don’t understand why people do certain things, being open to other cultures and beliefs is the most important.” Update on the Girls Count Act: Proud day for Delaware! Senator Coons signed on as a cosponsor of the Girls Count Act, on November 13, 2014. Senator Coons affirmed that he and his colleagues are making every effort to pass the Senate version of the Bill before Congress finishes for the year. Thank you, Senator Coons!
The Whittier Miscellany Holiday 2014
Varying Media Coverage on Ottawa
shooting was Corporal Nathan Cirillo who was shot in the back, unable to defend himself. He is portrayed as a smiling, friendly, soldier who enjoyed spending time with On October 22, 2014, a series of shootings occurred his family and dog. Cirillo’s death has been mourned by in Ottawa, Canada. This attack is the most serious security both the Canadian and American media as a tragic event. breach at Parliament Hill since the Parliament Bombing The hero in the tragedy,Kevin Vickers, has also been in 1966. The shooting was also the second attack on a brought to the media forefront. Vickers is credited with Canadian soldier that week. These events were perceived taking down the gunman, Zehaf-Bibeau. Ty Moyer, ‘16, differently by both the American and Canadian media. stated, “I think the news outlets should focus on the heroic Historically, while Canada focuses on the heroes and actions of Kevin Vickers rather than the gunman.” victims of the crime, America focuses on the murderers In the town of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Martin and attempts to find suspects. Couture-Rouleau rammed his car into two Canadian The members of the Parliament of Canada were soldiers, killing one in the aftermath. Like Zehaf-Bibeau, attending caucuses Couture-Rouleau was when the shooter also shot by soldiers launched the following the attack. American incident. Although news outlets have both Zehaf-Bibeau focussed mainly on and Couturethe gunman, who Rouleau had recently was later identified converted to Islam, as thirty-two-yearno group claimed old Michael Zehafresponsibility for Bibeau. He shot the attack on Ottawa and killed Corporal or the one near Nathan Cirillo at Montreal. the War Memorial Although both in Ottawa. Later, countries are very Zehaf-Bibeau was different in terms Vickers in Canadian Parliment shot and killed in the of media coverage, gunfight with security many comparisons personnel. were made following the Parliament Hill shooting. While Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, of Libyan descent, was born the comparison is understandable to the average citizen, as Michael Joseph Hall and changed his name when he Canada and America function within different contexts. converted to Islam. Police obtained information that The U.S. has been facing a systemic issue of gun control Zehaf-Bibeau had a criminal record in Quebec, dating for some time, while the Parliament Hill shooting is not back ten years ago on drug related charges. Police also an everyday occurrence for Canada. In these tragedies, found his criminal record in British Columbia, where he both Canadian and American media played a significant was convicted of threatening and served one day in jail in role in determining the reaction and public outcry to the 2012. However, Canadian media centered around coverage events. The news media should not be underestimated. of the shooting victims and heroes. The first victim of the Just look at Ferguson as an example. Marley Morton ‘18 News Writer
telegraph.com.uk
Sadie Proud '17 News Writer
universetoday.com
Thomas Hilder '17 News Writer
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