2025-05-27 05.27.2025
Rocket Watch, Texas Takes Aim, Shrinking Saturn, Disney Dominates & Pilot with a Purpose!
Good morning and welcome to Kid News. I'm Tori. Today is Tuesday, May 27, 2025. And we begin with SpaceX no doubt hoping the third time is the charm for its massive Starship rocket. After two recent explosions that rained debris down over the Caribbean and parts of Florida, the company is set to launch again from Texas tonight at 6.30 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The Federal Aviation Administration gave the green light for the attempt after investigating the two previous failures. The massive rocket is key to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's long-term vision of colonizing Mars. Tonight's liftoff, if it happens, will be the ninth test flight of Starship. The last two ended in failure because of a propellant leak in one instance and a rapid engine malfunction that caused the vehicle to tumble uncontrollably in the other. Musk responded to the failures with a comment, Rockets are hard. Texas is the latest state poised to enact a full ban on social media for kids and young teens. If enacted, that bill would bar every Texas resident under 18 from signing up for and using a social media platform. Numerous studies have shown that social media use causes stress and depression, particularly among young people. The Texas bill would use public or private records to verify the age of every person who attempts to create an account. The Texas House has passed the bill and the state Senate is expected to follow suit in about a week. Utah was the first state to pass similar legislation for users under 18, but they do allow some access with parental consent. Florida has banned all minors younger than 14. He's only 19, but he's already an accomplished pilot and he's using his skills to fight cancer. Ethan Guo is on a mission to become the youngest person to fly solo to all seven continents with the goal of raising $1 million for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. He's doing it in honor of his cousin who battled stage four lymphoma and is now in remission. Yesterday, Ethan touched down in Palo Alto, California. His next stops are Los Angeles and Cabo San Lucas. Then he'll head to South America before ending in Antarctica. He's faced harsh weather, mechanical failures, and even detention in Myanmar. Flying a specially modified Cessna 182, he hopes to inspire young cancer patients and others to pursue ambitious goals. To be honest, many times I'm scared, he admits, adding, What I say to people is aim as big as you can, break it down to digestible steps, and work towards it step by step. We know Jupiter is big. It's the biggest planet in the solar system. So big that it has two and a half times more mass than all the other planets combined. Yet scientists using reverse computer simulations have found that in the past, the mighty gas giant was even bigger, nearly twice its current size. They also found Jupiter had a magnetic field 50 times stronger than now, which is already extremely strong and lethal compared to Earth's. This super Jupiter existed very early in our solar system's 4.6 billion year history shortly after the planets formed. Scientists looked at the movements of two of Jupiter's closest moons and traced their orbits back in time to figure out Jupiter's size and gravitational tugging billions of years in the past. So why did the planet shrink? Scientists say it contracted as it gradually cooled down after forming. It's a box office weekend the folks at Disney or any studio dreams about. The live action remake of the 2002 animated classic Lilo and Stitch blew away box office predictions with a record smashing domestic gross of $183 million over 4 days and an even better $342 million take globally. This is a much needed shot in the arm for the studio after the not so great debut of their troubled Snow White live action remake. Also bringing in the big bucks this past weekend was Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning, which opened to a franchise best $77 million domestically and $190 million worldwide. Movie executives are hoping all this foretells a hot summer box office. Still to come? It was just an ordinary date, except it's not when the couple is Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. But first, we want to wish a happy 9th birthday to the delightful and brilliant Edith Skironic of Durham, North Carolina. Edith, your family loves you wholeheartedly and is inspired by your fabulous style, wild sense of humor, love of music through violin, chorus, theater, Taylor Swift and Chappel Rhone, your creative expression in poetry, painting, drawing and sewing and your fierce, independent mindedness. Happy birthday Edith! Now, today's Kid News Quiz. Elon Musk is hoping all goes smoothly later today after how many recent Starship rocket launches resulted in explosions. What state is poised to ban all social media from users under 18? Texas. Which massive planet in our solar system was once twice the size it is today? Jupiter. Name the live-action remake of a Disney animated film that ruled the box office this past weekend. Lilo and Stitch. In today's Kid News Kicker, people go on dates all the time but when you're Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey, it can be tricky to get a little privacy. That didn't stop them from paying a visit to a restaurant called Harry's in West Palm Beach, Florida. Fan photos shared on Instagram showed the songstress and her football player Beau tucked inside a booth. They ordered a ton of food. Fans say Travis seemed famished and wolfed his meal down. They left a few hours later, surrounded by security. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end has been renting a home in nearby Boca Raton while training in the off-season. And now shout-outs to our other Kid News classrooms, Ms. Demartalar and her Road Runners at Forest Road School in LaGrange Park, Illinois, Mrs. Durning and her Panthers at Scott's A-Plus School in Statesville, North Carolina, and Ms. Davis and her third-grade Eagles at Allen Village Charter School in Kansas City, Missouri. See you tomorrow morning!