Second View
A Summer of Discovery for Families
This month’s Second View is by Karla Probert, wife of Space Foundation Vice President – Education and Discovery Iain Probert. Early Sunday morning last week, our 8-year-old daughter sat on the couch recounting the highlights of her summer break. This was an unprompted discussion, she was simply sitting there reflecting on how fast the summer has gone…
Improving Our Lives on Earth Through Space
This month’s Second View is by Space Foundation Vice President – Operations Art Ratkewicz. Sometimes progress is measured laterally, not just vertically. This “spread” of technological development occurred to me after remembering a talk with one of my grandmothers. She was awestruck by the advances she had witnessed, from the first automobiles taking to the…
Divided By a Common Language
This month’s Second View is by Space Foundation Director – Research & Analysis Micah Walter-Range. It is often said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language. This sentiment also applies to different communities within the space and cyber industries, where linguistic differences pose challenges in the acquisition and integration of…
Dr. Leroy Chiao's Take on America's Future in Space
In June, Discovery.com featured an interview with the Space Foundation’s Special Advisor – Human Spaceflight Dr. Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut who spent more than six months living on the International Space Station. In the interview Chiao commented on the future role of the United States in space exploration: I think we’ve taken space…
The Message is the Mission
This Second View is by Space Foundation Vice President – Washington Operations Brendan W. Curry. On May 15, 2013, the most recent International Space Station (ISS) crew safely returned home. The men who returned are American Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko and Canadian Chris Hadfield. Hadfield has the distinction of being the first commander of the ISS…
Don't Let Them Hijack Our Dreams
The Space Foundation’s Special Advisor – Human Spaceflight Dr. Leroy Chiao wrote an editorial for Discovery.com that was published online May 7. Chiao is a former NASA astronaut who spent more than six months living on the International Space Station. His editorial examines how positive space news is getting buried by negative news coverage, and…
The Face of the Space Symposium
This month’s Second View is by Space Foundation Senior Vice President – Strategic & International Affairs Steve Eisenhart. The face of the Space Symposium has changed. I think those of you who joined us here in Colorado Springs would agree. We still had lots of U.S. Air Force generals on the agenda and strong support…
Regaining our Math and Science Mojo
This month’s Second View is a letter from Roger Hunter, Kepler project manager, NASA, to Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham, in response to Pulham’s March 2013 View From Here column. Dear Elliot: I appreciate and resonate with your recent thought-piece on scientific literacy in the US (March 2013 issue of Space Watch). We do need…
"You're Amazing!"
Even after many months of #85 calling the Space Foundation world headquarters home, its diversity and surprising adaptability still never cease to amaze. Within a few swipes on an iPad, one can go from marveling at incredibly detailed images of our planet, particularly through a dataset called The Blue Marble, to sunning in front of…
10 Years After Columbia – NASA's Direction and Uncertain Future
This February marks the 10th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. One of the more subtly powerful observations to come out of the investigation by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board was a discussion of issues related to organizational culture. A supplement to the report noted that, absent fundamental changes to NASA’s organizational culture, NASA…