Finally: Virgin SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity completed her first glide flight! It’s been just over two years since the accident. I wish I could have seen her on her own without the mother ship. Up until Saturday, she was always in captive carry mode. That is she was carried and firmly attached to WhiteKnightTwo, VMS Eve […]
Think outside the Can
Where do you go when there is no place left to go? NASA has a great idea. Join them in Space. This week NASA asked us, fellow tax payers, to consider what we would you do if NASA made a port available for you to connect to the International Space Station (ISS). This is a […]
Am I speaking or yelling, how do you tell the difference?
Speaking or yelling, how do you tell the difference? Public speaking is one of the things I dream about. It’s an art, and most certainly an acquired skill. You know it when you hear a great talk. And most of the time, we don’t hear it or see it. Why is that? Power Point slides. […]
The Full Story: The NTSB report on the SpaceShipTwo accident is out today
Today at 7:30 am MT, the National Transportation Safety Board will release its final report on the Virgin Galactic accident that occurred on a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo October 31st, 2014. In a preliminary report issued by the NTSB last November, it was reported the pilot who survived the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo […]
The sequester: It’s like the flu or a hangover
The sequester: It’s like the flu or a hangover. You’ve got it now how are you going to get through it? So let’s take the first case, the flu. You did not give yourself the flu but you’ve got it. The thing about the flu is you don’t know how bad it is until it’s […]
Why didn’t I think of that?
Why didn’t I think of that? The TV remote control/bottle opener, the swivel passenger car seat, or the battery operated twirling spaghetti fork? You know it, I’ll bet at least once you’ve thought of some cool invention and then let it slip away into the graveyard of great ideas. Lauren Rojas, a seventh grader from […]
The Dragon in the Cave
Calculating in the Dragon that lives nearby. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote books for his children. Like all great children’s books, lessons were hidden in big adventures and larger than life characters, even if they were short in stature. I am sharing a favorite quote from The Hobbit. I’ve kept it in mind when making big decision […]
Celebrations and Tyranny
Fiesta and conference season are upon us here in the Land of Enchantment. As we work overtime daily to put the finishing touches on the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight and the Community Partnership Luncheon, the event organizing roller coaster ride continues. I have a suggestion for everyone participating in any of our […]
SpaceX and Drive
People who run marathons, scientists who live at the South Pole in winter, and even the firefighters in the Gila, have something in common. They have an innate drive to be autonomous, self-determined and connected to each other. Volunteering to be in a closed, hostile environment for months at a time is something International Space […]
Teaching and Learning
The core of my motivation in writing is not only to examine major issues in the commercial space transportation industry, but to also learn along with you. The emerging commercial space industry is fascinating. It is about much more than space. This week I have been working on a spaceport panel for the commercial space […]
