Photo: Sian Proctor on Twitter
Earlier this year, SpaceX was the literal driving force (the figurative one being Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman) behind the first orbital spaceflight manned exclusively by private citizens.
Takeoff happened on September 16 and, after reaching a maximum orbital height of roughly 364 miles (585 km), the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean nearly three days later. The initial thrust was provided by SpaceX's Falcon 9 reusable rocket.
Jared Isaacman was obviously one of the four people on board (while also taking the title of "Mission Commander"). The billionaire donated two of the remaining seats to the St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, with one being taken by one of the facility's physicians and the other being offered as the prize in a raffle that managed to raise $200 million for the hospital.
The final seat was awarded by one of Isaacman's companies, Shift4 Payments, following a business idea competition. The winner was Dr. Sian Proctor, a geology professor who had flirted with spaceflight before when she was one of the 47 finalists in the 2009 NASA Astronaut Selection Process (eventually, she failed to make the final cut). Sian was given the role of "Pilot."
Earlier today, so over three months since the flight, Sian posted a picture of herself next to a brand-new Ford Mustang Mach-E while sporting the instantly-recognizable "new car grin."
The most normal reaction to this post from anyone who doesn't know her personally would be to ignore it completely. A woman we don't really care about has bought a new car - so what? An equally normal reaction, even though maybe a bit overly empathetic given the circumstances, would have been to congratulate her and wish her all the best.
Well, leave it to the hardcore Tesla community to throw normality out the window. Some people apparently felt that, by getting a Ford, she had betrayed Tesla - a company she has had absolutely no affiliation with up to this point, as far as we know. How does that make sense? Easy: Elon Musk.
"A Ford after Elon launched you to space and returned safely? Lol interesting choice", reads one of the first comments. "Why would you advertise a Ford? Where’s your loyalty to Elon, SpaceX, and Tesla…..?" asked another. Another user, presumably baffled by the fact that someone might like another EV more than a Tesla, was curious to know whether she had test-driven a Tesla, to which Sian gave an answer worthy of an astute PR person: "Yes, I've driven a Tesla and it's a fantastic car."
However, the following comment is perhaps the one that's both the most confused and the most confusing: "If it were me that trusted my life with SpaceX engineers who successfully designed the spacecraft that flew me around the Earth for 3 days, also had a hand in the tech in Teslas, CEO donated $50m to St Jude’s… I’d opt for the American-made Tesla instead of the Mexican Ford."
Don't worry, though, the Tesla crowd knows for a fact this is only temporary. "It’s ok, it’s an EV and it’s a start. Notice her reasons for her choice, loves - the display, the feel/ergonomics of the car, and the color. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes it’s inferior and trades it in for a Tesla". I mean, it's a mystery how all the other carmakers apart from Tesla still exist.
If all this feels a bit "cultist" to you, don't worry, you're not the only one. And you're not wrong either. Need proof? It's right there, in one of the comments to Sian's post: "Basically, there is a guy who fulfills your dream and you just go to the “competition.” Just like Judas haha". Yes, they did use a Biblical figure to make a parallel, and you can very easily guess who Jesus is in this situation. As if there was ever any doubt.
Jared Isaacman was obviously one of the four people on board (while also taking the title of "Mission Commander"). The billionaire donated two of the remaining seats to the St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, with one being taken by one of the facility's physicians and the other being offered as the prize in a raffle that managed to raise $200 million for the hospital.
The final seat was awarded by one of Isaacman's companies, Shift4 Payments, following a business idea competition. The winner was Dr. Sian Proctor, a geology professor who had flirted with spaceflight before when she was one of the 47 finalists in the 2009 NASA Astronaut Selection Process (eventually, she failed to make the final cut). Sian was given the role of "Pilot."
Earlier today, so over three months since the flight, Sian posted a picture of herself next to a brand-new Ford Mustang Mach-E while sporting the instantly-recognizable "new car grin."
The most normal reaction to this post from anyone who doesn't know her personally would be to ignore it completely. A woman we don't really care about has bought a new car - so what? An equally normal reaction, even though maybe a bit overly empathetic given the circumstances, would have been to congratulate her and wish her all the best.
Well, leave it to the hardcore Tesla community to throw normality out the window. Some people apparently felt that, by getting a Ford, she had betrayed Tesla - a company she has had absolutely no affiliation with up to this point, as far as we know. How does that make sense? Easy: Elon Musk.
"A Ford after Elon launched you to space and returned safely? Lol interesting choice", reads one of the first comments. "Why would you advertise a Ford? Where’s your loyalty to Elon, SpaceX, and Tesla…..?" asked another. Another user, presumably baffled by the fact that someone might like another EV more than a Tesla, was curious to know whether she had test-driven a Tesla, to which Sian gave an answer worthy of an astute PR person: "Yes, I've driven a Tesla and it's a fantastic car."
However, the following comment is perhaps the one that's both the most confused and the most confusing: "If it were me that trusted my life with SpaceX engineers who successfully designed the spacecraft that flew me around the Earth for 3 days, also had a hand in the tech in Teslas, CEO donated $50m to St Jude’s… I’d opt for the American-made Tesla instead of the Mexican Ford."
Don't worry, though, the Tesla crowd knows for a fact this is only temporary. "It’s ok, it’s an EV and it’s a start. Notice her reasons for her choice, loves - the display, the feel/ergonomics of the car, and the color. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes it’s inferior and trades it in for a Tesla". I mean, it's a mystery how all the other carmakers apart from Tesla still exist.
If all this feels a bit "cultist" to you, don't worry, you're not the only one. And you're not wrong either. Need proof? It's right there, in one of the comments to Sian's post: "Basically, there is a guy who fulfills your dream and you just go to the “competition.” Just like Judas haha". Yes, they did use a Biblical figure to make a parallel, and you can very easily guess who Jesus is in this situation. As if there was ever any doubt.
???????? pic.twitter.com/PGJzTgBerP
— Dr. Sian “Leo” Proctor (@DrSianProctor) December 27, 2021
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