Was Elon Musk in Young Sheldon? Details of business tycoon’s cameo, explored

Elon Musk made a cameo appearance in Young Sheldon wherein he gets hold of Sheldon Cooper’s notes and uses them for SpaceX. In the episode titled ‘A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac’ from Season 1, episode 6, Sheldon questions a NASA scientist about saving money on booster rocket. But the scientist dismisses his queries.

Later, Sheldon comes up with a theoretical working for the issue and shares it with the scientist. In the future, it is shown that the business tycoon and inventor Elon Musk uses the notes for his rocket at SpaceX.

Young Sheldon was a hit 2017 sitcom that ran on CBS for seven seasons. The show follows the story of a young genius Sheldon Cooper, portrayed by Iain Armitage, who tries to fit in the world with his emotional shortcomings.

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Elon Musk makes a cameo in Young Sheldon

In the episode A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac, we find Sheldon Cooper in his class eagerly listening to the visiting NASA Scientist, Dr. Ronald Hodges, played by Jason Kravits. He is at the school giving a lecture about space missions.

Dr. Hodges shares that there are a few budgeting problems in space exploration, as it is an expensive venture. Every time they decide to launch, it costs American taxpayers millions of dollars. This statement immediately gets the attention of a perplexed Sheldon Cooper, who asks why they don’t let the booster rocket land instead of dropping it in the ocean, which could be reused and thus save money.

Dr. Hodges dismisses him saying it is not possible and gives him a NASA patch to keep him quiet. The interaction makes Sheldon angry. The voiceover by adult Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons, shares that this was the moment he decided to choose a career in theoretical physics.

Sheldon takes it upon himself to come up with the equations to solve the problem. The Cooper family drives Sheldon to NASA in Houston, so he can share his findings with Dr. Hodges.

Sheldon uses blackboard and chalk to explain the whole process, which essentially would have the booster rocket flip 180 degrees and land safely. Dr. Hodges is impressed with Sheldon’s work and calls it ‘groundbreaking.’ But Sheldon wanted more than his admiration. He wanted him to apologise for dismissing him earlier in his class and get NASA to use his equations.

Dr. Hodges agrees that Sheldon’s theory is correct, but shares that they don’t have the technical support to execute it. To which Sheldon simply says,

‘All right. Call me when you catch up.’

And walks away, leaving Dr. Hodges surprised.

Cut to 2016, on breaking news on CNN, it is reported that Elon Musk’s SpaceX has successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic ocean. Musk called it ‘an incredible milestone’ in history.

Later we see Elon Musk sitting in his office in SpaceX Headquarters and seriously reading Sheldon Lee Cooper’s ‘Rocket Re-entry & Retropropulsion’ dated November 9, 1989. He gets a call saying that a reporter is there to meet him. Musk immediately puts the notebook inside his desk and sits nonchalantly.

Young Sheldon is available on Hulu and Netflix.

ALSO READ: What happened to Dr. John Sturgis on Young Sheldon? Character arc and storyline, explored

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