Montana students contribute to historic SpaceX launch

“Town Crier” newsletter – Briefs from the Region (1) – 5/28/20

SpaceX—the brainchild of tech innovator and pioneer Elon Musk—will be the first private company to send people into outer space, following federally funded efforts by Russia, the U.S. and China, in that order. The launch, rescheduled for Saturday, will be no less than historic, and a piece of Montana will join those intrepid travelers thanks to students from Helena and Billings. According to the Great Falls Tribune, the launch, which was originally scheduled for May 27 but was pushed to May 30, due to weather complications, will include single-use lockers built in part by students from Billings and Helena. “The actuators for the single-stowage lockers were made by students from the Billings Career Center and ‘butterflies’ (which, like actuators, help close the lockers) were built by students from Capital High School in Helena,” reports the Tribune. “I am proud that Montana students were able to contribute to this historic moment in our country constructing the DM-2 flight hardware,” Daines said in a news release, which added Billings native Mike Gold is the acting associate administrator leading international and interagency coordination in support of the launch.