There are 24, 872 Las Cruces Public School District students enrolled by the most recent head count published on the LCPS website. The NMSU and Dona Ana College websites indicate there were a total combined 24,099 students enrolled in 2012. We have almost the same number of students in the public school system as in […]
Congratulations to the new space scientists
Good news! All the algae flown to space on June 21 from Spaceport America survived. Abe Anderson with Sapphire Energy was New Mexico Space Grant’s technical advisor on this flight. He completed the initial analysis on the algae cultures. After the flight, the health and growth rate of the cultures that went to space were […]
Notes from the field: It is never routine to go to space
We got off to an early start with students, teachers, parents, the Alan’s – Alan Hale and Allan Lockheed, who came again to witness our journey back to space. Lights in the parking lot, like in the movie Field of Dreams. Lights as far as I can see, cars, busses, filled with students, parents, friends, […]
Behind the Scenes
Before I get into the text of my article today, I have to comment on Ned Cantwell’s article in yesterday’s paper. Richard Branson is going approximately seventy miles in a licensed sub-orbital human spaceflight vehicle, not to orbit. SpaceX is testing a research vehicle not intended for human spaceflight. Mr. Cantwell, should you want to […]
Why we should send student experiments to space
We have a launch date. On June 21, 2013, student experiments from Camino Real Middle School, La Academia De Delores Huerta and New Mexico State University will be among the five schools with experiments headed to space from Spaceport America. We had a year-long delay on this flight because of a licensing issue. New Mexico […]
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 […]
Under Promise and Over Deliver
Under promise and over deliver. A key strategy to success in business, and life. The implications are that you know what you want to do, are able to communicate it and then deliver. Delivering promised results is a key trust building behavior. As I plan my goals for 2013 for the Student Launch Program (SLP), […]
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 […]
Mars and the Olympics
Landing on Mars and winning at the Olympics, there is nothing easy about either. On Sunday, August 5th, starting around 11pm our time, you can watch the coverage of the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory at NASA.gov. Think about it. A laboratory the size of an SUV, will descend from the Curiosity Lander, deploy […]
Learning to tell a better story about spaceflight
When I tell people I am in the commercial space business, I now use a hand gesture. I point up. Otherwise they think I sell in commercial space in warehouses, or in shopping malls. I have been traveling a great deal in these past three weeks. The more I work to build our industry, the […]
