Liv Perrotto was 15 years old, fighting cancer, and running out of time. Her biggest dream was to speak with Elon Musk — and she almost made it. Days before she died, Musk called. She was too weak to come to the phone. She asked him to call back later.
He never got the chance.
But before she passed, Liv did something that would ultimately connect the two of them anyway. She picked up a notepad and wrote down eight questions — everything she wanted to ask the billionaire entrepreneur if she ever got the chance. She left the list on her nightstand.
Days after her death, that list reached millions of people. And then it reached Musk himself.
It was conservative commentator Glenn Beck who brought Liv’s story to the public. On Thursday, Beck took to X to share what had happened — posting photographs of the teenager and the handwritten notepad she had left behind, alongside the story of the call that never happened.
Beck’s post connected the dots: Liv’s mother, Rebecca, had shared the questions with him in the hope that Musk might still answer them — even now, even after everything.
The questions Liv had written were a window into who she was: curious, playful, and passionate about a surprisingly wide range of things. She asked whether Musk planned to build his own smartphone. She wanted to know if he intended to expand the Tesla Diner. She asked about new games in Tesla software updates. She was curious about his favorite anime, whether he had traveled to Japan, and whether he knew the beloved virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. She asked if the Grok AI virtual companion named “Ani” had been inspired by the character “Misa” from the manga series “Death Note.”
And then, for her final question, Liv asked something that reflected a contribution she had already made to space exploration. She had designed a Shiba Inu plush toy — a zero-gravity indicator used to signal the onset of microgravity — for the Polaris Dawn space mission. She called the plushie “Asteroid.” Her question: could Asteroid become the official mascot of SpaceX?
Beck’s post captured the internet’s attention immediately. Within hours, it had accumulated nearly two million views and tens of thousands of likes.
Musk’s Response
On Thursday afternoon, Elon Musk replied directly to Beck’s post — working through Liv’s eight questions one by one, in order.
He confirmed he is not currently developing his own phone. He said yes to expanding the Tesla Diner and yes to new Tesla games. He revealed that his favorite anime is “Your Name” — a Japanese romantic fantasy film that has become one of the most celebrated animated works of the modern era. He shared that he has visited Japan several times, naming Kyoto and the immersive art collective teamLab as personal highlights. He answered the Death Note question and the Hatsune Miku question.
And then he reached the last one.
With a brief “OK” followed by a smiley face, Musk agreed — making Liv’s handmade Asteroid plushie the official mascot of SpaceX.
A plush toy designed by a 15-year-old girl who loved space, who designed something that flew on a real mission, who wrote her questions on a notepad because she was too sick to take a phone call — is now permanently part of the identity of one of the world’s most recognizable space programs.
A Mother’s Response
Rebecca Perrotto had shared her daughter’s questions hoping Musk might see them. When he answered — all of them, publicly, honoring each one — she responded to the post with five words that stopped the internet in its tracks.
“I wish she was here to see this.”
There is no framework that makes Liv Perrotto’s death anything other than what it is — the loss of a 15-year-old girl with a bright mind, a handwritten list of questions, and a dream she never quite reached. What Elon Musk did on Thursday did not change that. What it did was answer a question Liv never got to ask out loud, honor the curiosity and creativity she poured into a nightstand notepad, and ensure that something she made with her own hands will travel with SpaceX wherever it goes next.
“OK” and a smiley face. Sometimes that’s enough.
