Missing home: Loay Elbasyouni showing his space photos at his home in Santa Monica.He also helped design Ingenuity, which made history by flying on Mars for the first time in 2021. — Los Angeles Times/TNS
FROM his modest home office in Santa Monica last month, Loay Elbasyouni prepared to review rocket engine designs during a meeting on Blue Moon, a spacecraft that in the not-too-distant future will launch astronauts to the moon to explore the surface of its southern pole.
Nasa’s Artemis V mission, scheduled for 2029, is fifth in a planned series of efforts to return to Earth’s lone natural satellite for the first time since the Apollo programme. And it’s not Elbasyouni’s first foray into space exploration.
Subscribe now for a chance to win your dream holiday!
![](https://cdn.thestar.com.my/Themes/img/sub_paywall_TSM.webp)
Near but far
Loay Elbasyouni: 'I sent a helicopter to Mars, but now I can’t even send food or water to my parents in Gaza.' — Photos: Los Angeles Times/TNS
USNEWS-CALIF-GAZA-ENGINEER-5-LA
Loay's father, Mohammed (pix), was born in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp in 1948, the same year Israel became an independent state in what Palestinians call the “Nakba” or catastrophe.
USNEWS-CALIF-GAZA-ENGINEER-3-LA
Loay has been desperately working to evacuate his parents from war-torn Gaza.
USNEWS-CALIF-GAZA-ENGINEER-1-LA
Elbasyouni emigrated to the US in 1998 on a student visa and attended the University of Pennsylvania.
USNEWS-CALIF-GAZA-ENGINEER-2-LA