PinnedA Letter from Austin #22: Walking CapulinA Day Trip to the Distant Past Today I’m walking on top of a volcano, and I’m going to recommend that you do the same. The volcano is called Capulin. Geologists say it’s extinct, so you won’t be falling into any bone-melting magma. And if you’re busy at the moment…Capulin Volcano11 min readCapulin Volcano11 min read
Apr 28A Letter from Austin #28: Parceling Out a ParadiseThe City of Austin Has Big Plans for Zilker Park There are changes in store for Zilker Park. Unfortunately, many of them are bad. I’ve been hanging around Zilker since August of 1979. I’ve swum in Barton Springs, kayaked and tubed Barton Creek, chased my kids across the Great Lawn…Austin6 min readAustin6 min read
Dec 31, 2022The Year in Space 2022: NASA Steals the SpotlightGlobal Defense, a Moon Mission, and More It was a busy year in space, featuring an unprecedented number of launches by a large and growing cast of rocket slingers. Nevertheless, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) dominated the headlines, notching a string of high-profile successes that put the U.S…Space10 min readSpace10 min read
Dec 21, 2022Star Bound №20: The Future Was ThenChapter One: The Spacewalk From Hell This is a story about big dreams and tiny circuits. It’s about moonshots, a mild form of mania, and a machine called the Manned Maneuvering Unit. It seems to wind up at a dead end, but that’s not true. There’s a little alley leading…NASA13 min readNASA13 min read
Oct 26, 2022A Letter from Austin #27: You Get What You Pay ForKen Paxton Closes in on Another Term as Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton may not be the worst attorney general in the history of Texas, but he’s closing fast. Former Democratic Attorney General Dan Morales, who held the office from 1991 through 1999, currently holds the fictional title of…8 min read8 min read
Oct 12, 2022Star Bound №19: The Other First ManReading Stephen Walker’s Beyond Which is better, the dreamy sense of dislocation you get with a great novel, or the heady satisfaction of falling into a whole new world that comes from really well-done nonfiction? …Yuri Gagarin4 min readYuri Gagarin4 min read
Sep 29, 2022Star Bound №18: Basking in Operation MoonglowHow the U.S. Shaped the Message of Apollo 11 Teasel Muir-Harmony’s Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo is the story of the space race between the U.S. and Russia in the years leading up to Apollo 11’s successful mission to the moon. But it’s also the tale of…Operation Moonglow5 min readOperation Moonglow5 min read
Sep 21, 2022Star Bound №17: The Space Race BeginsSputnik and the Creation of NASA Note: The following is a chapter in a book I’m writing titled StarBound, a popular history of the American space program. Comments and questions are welcome. Understanding the evolution of rocketry in the latter half of the twentieth century involves at least a brief…Space Race12 min readSpace Race12 min read
Sep 20, 2022Star Bound №16: NASA Throws a DartPracticing for the Ultimate Environmental Defense Mission Let’s face it. You may not care about the composition of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. Your concern about whether Pluto has ice volcanoes is probably minimal. But trust me, you should care about NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission. It’s a kamikaze flight…Dart Mission3 min readDart Mission3 min read
Sep 18, 2022Star Bound №15: Back from BanishmentFrancis French Helps Al Worden Tell an Important Story I’ve read a fair number of astronaut books, and they’re all pretty good. Why? Because they’re written by astronauts, and astronauts get to write about GOING INTO SPACE, which just about everyone agrees is extremely cool. But Falling to Earth: An…NASA2 min readNASA2 min read
