Time International - 25.11.2019

(Jeff_L) #1
Time November 25, 2019

FAST FACTS


HOMETOWN


RICHMOND, CALIF.


BEST KNOWN FOR


BECOMING THE


YOUNGEST-EVER U.S.


FIGURE-SKATING


NATIONAL CHAMPION


AT AGE 13—AND


THE FIRST FEMALE


U.S. SKATER TO


LAND A QUAD LUTZ


IN COMPETITION


RETHINKING ROCKETS


TIM ELLIS | 29


By Terry Virts


There was a day when space
was the domain of governments:
NASA, the Soviet Union, the
European Space Agency. It
required billions of dollars and
tens of thousands of workers to
earn a seat at the space table.
But this is the 21st century,
and times have changed.
Tim Ellis, CEO of Relativity
Space, is the embodiment of
the “new space” era we now
live in. He began his college
career studying film, but soon
switched his major to aerospace
engineering and joined the USC
Rocket Propulsion Laboratory.
After cutting his teeth at Jeff
Bezos’ Blue Origin, he set out to
change the world and co-founded
Relativity Space, a company
with the audacious mission
of 3-D-printing rockets. After
landing a $500,000 investment
from the celebrity investor Mark
Cuban, Relativity has raised
nearly $200 million in a few short
years and is poised to begin
commercial launches in 2021.


Virts is a former NASA astronaut 


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