Welcome to Laura's Space on Space!

Having written seven pages over the last two days about this week's space awesomeness on my personal blog, I decided to resurrect the concept of a professional blog. My last short-lived attempt was 6 or 7 years ago when I was in graduate school living in Rocket City USA (that is Huntsville, Alabama or Huntsvegas if you prefer). Life has taken so many unexpected twists and turns since then. When I look back, I'm amazed at the opportunities that I've been given and the experiences that I've had along the way. And I know that the best is yet to come!

I need an outlet, a means of expressing myself and the passion within me about space exploration, development, and commerce. I've toyed with the idea of writing articles to submit to space publications, but I'm nowhere near as skilled of a writer as so many of the space journalists and editorialists who I regularly read. I may have served for two years as Editor-in-Chief of The Crimson, the student newspaper of the Florida Institute of Technology, but that does not make me a journalist. I am a lowly blogger, passionate in my words but untrained in the art of wordsmithing and communications.

I am a scientist by training and at heart. The question of “why?” always on my lips, so much so that one of my master's degree advisors (a PhD scientist himself) once scolded me for asking why too much. Constantly curious, ceaselessly searching, persistently posing questions to experts and to Google. Astrophysics introduced me to my love of space and planetary science nurtured my love of of space exploration. I've earned two degrees in astrophysics and conducted doctoral research in planetary science before being swept away by the lures of the space industry. Since then, I've gathered experience working on International Space Station research, space policy formation, space industry analysis, and commercial space industry public relations and management.

I live on the Space Coast of Florida just half an hour from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where rocket launches are a common sight. Having grown up outside of Philadelphia, it was a goal of mine to move to not only where space activity is, but also where snow isn't. The Moon may be my first celestial love and my ultimate destination goal, but while on Earth during daylight hours, the Sun is what I love most, especially as it reflects off the waves that crash on the sandy shore. The Sunshine State is my home now.

I'm a new employee for an innovative start-up called Swiss Space Systems. We are working on a three-stage air-launch system. Very soon we will begin conducting parabolic “zero G” or "weightless" freefall parabolic flights of our first stage Airbus jet. I take care of everything that needs to be done in our Florida office to prepare for our upcoming activities. The grand goal is the launch of small satellites into orbit and the transportation of passengers across the globe very quickly through suborbital spaceflight.

I'm also a newlywed, just a month married to my best friend. Nathan is a PhD economist who works at the headquarters of a bank in Atlanta. We spend much of our time in airports and planes flying back and force from Orlando and Atlanta. We had a joyful, vibrant little shindig in Florida with our friends and family, saying our I dos in a chapel and celebrating under a beach tent. I'm a Catholic convert and I lead my church's young adult ministry (whose blog I've been neglecting, nags the voice in my head which doubts whether I can keep up this blog). I am a homeowner, a cat owner (or is it the other way around?), a reader, a baker, and a news junkie.

My goal with this blog is to release my love of space into the world via this tiny corner of the Internet. Readership isn't my goal, but inspiration is. If I have one reader and that reader is inspired, that means more to me than a million hits from readers who take away nothing of the beauty and wonder of space. Thank you for reading and keep dreaming of the stars!

Floating around - November 2011