It took courage and leadership for Dan Hicks and his team to carry off the first Spaceport America Cup. Leadership, because if anything went wrong, Mr. Hicks is the one wringable neck. Courage because of the complexity of the tasks to be carried out. When you have students of all ages involved with explosives, think […]
The Next 100 Days
Observations for New Mexicans as we transition to the next administration. If you have been reading my column you know I am more focused on science and technology. Most of the people I spend my days with are involved in federally funded programs that require some degree of technical, scientific and administrative know how. Yet, […]
Think small. Think big. Then act.
One of my jobs is to go to Capitol Hill and speak to members of Congress. As the Director of the New Mexico Space Grant, I am one of 52 Directors. We are funded by Congress and NASA runs our program. Every year we go to Capitol Hill to report on our progress. My experiences […]
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. […]
BEAM Me Up NASA
I have just returned from the launch of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the 8th commercial resupply services (CRS-8) mission for NASA by the SpaceX Flacon 9 rocket from their launch complex 40 at Kennedy Space Center. I was a launch site guest of Bigelow Aerospace […]
What would a three week General Election season be like?
We have sympathy from our colleagues at Virgin Galactic. Last week I met with Virgin employees who were here from Mojave Air and Space Port. As the press reported, Virgin Galactic had an unveiling ceremony recently and released videos and photographs of Virgin SpaceShip the VSS Unity. The VSS Unity is being built by the […]
Vision without Execution is Hallucination
Vision without execution is hallucination. I am a worker bee. That’s my deal, I like to work. When I describe what I do I say I work in the space industry and point up- that space. If I said I was a dog walker, or a home builder or even an eye surgeon, we’d have […]
We can get there from here
We can get there from here. Brian Chesky’s business is worth $25 billion and sometimes he rents out his couch for $40 a night. He’s the founder of Airbnb. Recently he was at the 2nd annual Airbnb Open, a gathering in Paris of over 5,000 of his Airbnb hosts and 645 employees. At the event […]
Local columns add to community dialogue
Local columns add to community dialogue Over the past few weeks we have learned of the resignation of some of the local contributing columnists. Like you, I read their columns. Over time, each columnist finds their voice and their audience. As I now return from vacation time with family, I reflected on how the family […]
Anticipation
Anticipation I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. I can tell already people are anticipating the season. Fred Rodgers, said anticipation is the pleasure of enjoying the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and […]
