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GeekWire contributing editor Alan Boyle is an award-winning science writer and veteran space reporter. Formerly of NBCNews.com, he is the author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference." Follow him via CosmicLog.com, on Twitter @b0yle, and on Facebook and MeWe.
Update: Today's launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon was postponed until May 30 due to concerns about the weather.
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Mission managers have cleared the final paperwork for SpaceX's first-ever crewed launch, aimed at sending two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The stage is now set for the first NASA mission to send humans into orbit from U.S. soil since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011.
Only one big question remained after today's launch readiness review, which looked at all the technical issues surrounding Wednesday's scheduled liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"We're burning down the final paper," Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, told reporters during a teleconference. "All the teams were 'go,' and we're continuing to make progress toward our mission. Now the only thing we need to do is figure out how to control the weather."
The weather forecast called for a 60% chance of scrubbing the launch due to concerns about rain and clouds at the launch site. The weather was rainy at the Cape, but Mike McAleenan, launch weather officer for the 45th Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base, said the outlook was improving.
"If I was to issue the forecast today, right now, we would probably be down to a 40% chance of violation. … So we have some hope for launch day,"
SpaceX Crew Dragon Is the Most Anticipated Launch of the Year youtu.be
McAleenan said.In addition to the conditions at the launch site, mission managers have to consider what the weather is like at sea, in case an emergency comes up and the astronauts have to abort the flight. That part of the forecast is also iffy, McAleenan said. He said the backup days for launch, May 30 and 31, had a "better probability of launching, and lower risk numbers across the Atlantic."
The countdown clock officially begins running on Tuesday morning — but the two astronauts who are due to ride the Dragon, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, will have a relatively light day, consisting of technical briefings mixed with rest and relaxation.
On Wednesday, they'll get a wakeup call at 9 a.m. ET, have breakfast and then receive a weather briefing at about 12:20 p.m. ET. After the briefing, they'll put on their custom-fitted SpaceX spacesuits, walk out from the Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at about 1:15 p.m., climb into the Dragon capsule at 2 p.m., and close the hatch at 2:38 p.m.
Lueders said launch-pad workers have been "nose-swabbed and tested" to check for COVID-19, and they'll be outfitted in a way that's meant to protect Hurley and Behnken from infection. "They look like ninjas there — because, you know, with the SpaceX folks, you've got to have it be looking cool," she joked.
Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president for build and flight reliability, said the launch team will be closely monitoring the weather forecast for the launch site as well as the ocean recovery zones as the clock ticks down. A crucial decision point will come at T-minus-45 minutes, when the go-ahead is due to be given for arming the Dragon's launch escape system and fueling up the Falcon 9 rocket with highly refined kerosene and liquid oxygen.
If all goes as planned, the Falcon 9 will light up its engines at 4:33 p.m. ET (1:33 p.m. PT), kicking off what's expected to be a 19-hour flight to the space station. Along the way, the astronauts will get a couple of chances to steer the Dragon manually using touchscreen panels. But for most of the flight, including the station docking, the Dragon will be under autonomous control.
Assuming that the weather cooperates, the next big uncertainty has to do with how long SpaceX's first spacefliers will stay at the station.
The primary purpose of the mission is to demonstrate the Dragon's performance for future crewed flights. But right now there are only three other crew members at the space station, which typically has a crew of six. Hurley and Behnken may be called upon to put in a tour of duty that's longer than originally scheduled — and help out with tasks including a couple of spacewalks.
"That schedule is a little bit in flux," Koenigsmann acknowledged. "Obviously NASA will tell us when they're ready to go, anywhere between … six weeks and 16 weeks."
The flight back will bring the astronauts down to an Atlantic Ocean splashdown and recovery. In an interview with Aviation Week & Space Technology, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the return was the part of the mission that he was most worried about — due to the asymmetry of the Dragon's back shell.
"We've looked at this six ways to Sunday, so it's not that I think this will fail," Aviation Week's Irene Klotz quoted Musk as saying. "It's just that I worry a bit that it is asymmetric on the backshell, and you could have a strange sort of roll coupling as you come in if you turn too much. I think this is low risk, but that's what I would put as my biggest concern."
When Koenigsmann was asked about Musk's comments, he said he didn't have any special concerns in advance of the launch. "I'm at the point right now where I'm actually worried about the weather, and that's a good sign," Koenigsmann said.
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GeekWire contributing editor Alan Boyle is an award-winning science writer and veteran space reporter. Formerly of NBCNews.com, he is the author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference." Follow him via CosmicLog.com, on Twitter @b0yle, and on Facebook and MeWe.
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Mother Blames TikTok For Daughter’s Death in ‘Blackout Challenge’ Suit
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
The mother of a 10-year-old girl who died after allegedly trying a dangerous online “challenge” has sued Culver City-based TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, claiming the social media app’s algorithm showed her videos of people choking themselves until they pass out.
Nylah Anderson, an intelligent child who already spoke three languages, was “excruciatingly asphyxiated” and found unconscious in her bedroom on Dec. 7, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Pennsylvania. She spent five days in pediatric intensive care until succumbing to her injuries.
The lawsuit, filed by her mother Tawainna Anderson, claims TikTok’s algorithm had previously shown Nylah videos depicting the “Blackout Challenge,” in which people hold their breath or choke themselves with household items to achieve a euphoric feeling. That encouraged her to try it herself, the lawsuit alleged.
“The TikTok Defendants’ algorithm determined that the deadly Blackout Challenge was well-tailored and likely to be of interest to 10-year-old Nylah Anderson, and she died as a result,” the suit said.
In a previous statement about Nylah’s death, a TikTok spokesperson noted the “disturbing” challenge predates TikTok, pointing to a 2008 warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about deadly choking games. The spokesperson claimed the challenge “has never been a TikTok trend.” The app currently doesn’t produce any search results for “Blackout Challenge” or a related hashtag.
“We remain vigilant in our commitment to user safety and would immediately remove related content if found,” the TikTok statement said. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the family for their tragic loss.”
At least four other children or teens have died after allegedly attempting the Blackout Challenge, according to the Anderson lawsuit. TikTok has grappled with dangerous challenges on its platform before, including one in which people tried to climb a stack of milk crates. That was considered so dangerous that TikTok banned the hashtag associated with it last year. In February, TikTok updated its content rules to combat the dangerous acts and other harmful content.
The Anderson lawsuit comes as lawmakers and state attorneys general scrutinize how TikTok and other social media can be bad for teens and younger users, including by damaging their mental health, causing negative feelings about their body image and making them addicted to the apps.
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Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Netflix's New Culture Memo Addresses Censorship and Corporate Secrecy
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
Netflix promised change after its poor first-quarter earnings. One of the first targets: the Netflix Culture document.
The changes, which Variety reported on Thursday, indicate a new focus on fiscal responsibility and concern about censorship. While promises to support honest feedback and open decision-making remain, the memo’s first update in almost five years reveals that the days of lax spending are over. The newly added “artistic expression” section emphasizes Netflix’s refusal to censor its work and implores employees to support the platform’s content.
The “artistic expression” section states that the company will not “censor specific artists or voices” and specifies that employees may have to work on content “they perceive to be harmful.” The memo points to ratings, content warnings and parental controls as ways for users to determine what is appropriate content.
Censorship has been a contentious issue within Netflix. Last year, employees walked out in protest after the company stood by comedian Dave Chappelle’s special, “The Closer,” which many said was transphobic. The streaming service has since announced four more specials from the comedian, who was attacked on stage at Netflix’s first comedy festival. The show will not air on the platform, as Netflix did not tape the event.
The reaction to Chappelle’s 2021 special ripples further in the updated memo. After firing an employee who leaked how much the company paid for the special, the new “ethical expectations” section directs employees to protect company information.
The memo also reflects pressure borught by poor first-quarter earnings. Employees are now instructed to “spend our members’ money wisely,” and Variety reported that earlier passages that indicated a lack of spending limits were cut. Variety also found that the updated memo removed promises that the company would not make employees take pay cuts in the face of Netflix’s own financial struggles.
These updates come as employee morale has reportedly dropped and editorial staffers at the Netflix website TuDum were laid off en masse. Those employees were offered two weeks of severance pay—and Netflix has now cut a section in the memo promising four months of full pay as severance.
As the company that literally wrote the book on corporate culture faces internal struggles, it's unlikely that making employees take on more responsibility while prioritizing corporate secrecy and discouraging content criticism will improve morale.
Kristin Snyder is an editorial intern for dot.la. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
‘Raises’: Mahmee Secures $9.2M, Wave Financial Launches $60M Fund
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
Venture Capital
Mahmee, an integrated care delivery platform for maternal and infant health that connects patients, health professionals, and healthcare organizations to increase access to prenatal and postpartum care, raised a $9.2 million Series A funding round led by Goldman Sachs.
FutureProof Technologies, a climate risk analytics platform, raised $6.5 million in capital led by AXIS Digital Ventures along with Innovation Endeavors and MS&AD Ventures.
Anja Health, a doctor-backed cord blood banking company, raised $4.5 million led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six.
Funds
Wave Financial LLC, a digital asset investment management company, is launching a $60 million fund to deploy capital via cryptocurrency.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.