Elon Musk's Tweet announcing the "Super High-Tech Zero-G Indicator."
How
many of you read or watched coverage of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule’s arrival
at the International Space Station last month? I’m a big fan of SpaceX, the
audacious company founded and bankrolled by the enigmatic Elon Musk, so I lapped up media reporting of the event. An unlikely
star of the mission was a little stuffed planet Earth, which Musk dubbed as
SpaceX’s “super high-tech zero-G indicator.” It featured prominently during the
live feeds from Crew Dragon as it playfully floated about the cabin,
immediately becoming an unofficial mascot for the ISS.
Down
here on terra firma sales of the same
plush toy have taken off (pardon the pun). I just learned Celestial Buddies—the company that produces the fuzzy, miniature Earth
as well as other astronomical bodies (including the Sun, Moon, Comet, Mars, Black
Hole, Pluto, and Charon)—is the brainchild of Jessie Silbert, a current student in the University of Oregon’s Sports Product Design graduate program. Jessie began her business
after completing her undergraduate degree and while working as a designer in
New York. Even though she now attends grad school here in Oregon, she continues
to manage Celestial Buddies and its sales. According to the Around the O article featuring Jessie and her achievements, she ultimately
envisions a career producing athletics clothing and accessories for women from
all backgrounds and walks of life.
As
an Oregon alum, I think it’s cool a budding designer and current University of
Oregon graduate student contributed to the achievement of a major milestone for
manned spaceflight, albeit unwittingly and only because of Elon Musk’s shrewd
command of the news cycle. Oregon Ducks are flying high on a variety of fronts
(including the talented and exciting-to-watch Women’s basketball team, who won
their way into the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history). Kudos
to Jessie for doing an out-of-the-world job of repping the “O!”
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