Loay Elbasyouni
When Loay Elbasyouni was a 10-year old boy growing up on the besieged Gaza Strip in Palestine, he built his first antenna from kitchen parts and aluminum foil so he could receive TV channels. Even then, he envisioned building his own startup company. But having the opportunity to be the electrical lead to design NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet, went beyond even his fertile young imagination.
“You cannot imagine the feeling,” Elbasyouni said. “I didn’t sleep at all the night of the flight, I was up watching the feed all night.”