Thank You Space Journalists & My List of Space News Sources to Follow

I have a great deal of respect for journalists and the independent press. I have admired journalists since childhood, watching Murphy Brown (don't laugh) and mourning the death of Daniel Pearl. I applaud Time Magazine's 2018 Person of the Year: Jamal Khashoggi, The Guardians, and The War on Truth.

In college when I was Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper, I considered becoming a space journalist. But I am a very slow writer and I'm not great at the objective reporting writing style. I did get mistaken for a journalist twice at space events in college and grad school, paying attention and taking notes. Even now, I occasionally get mistaken for a journalist even though I'm just an analyst who is active on Twitter.

Upon creating my own company nearly 3 years ago, I realized my freedom to represent myself and to speak my mind had significantly increased. And not only did some people want to hear my opinions, a few were paying me for it. This gave me courage to create a professional goal: contribute to space news. At the time, I didn't know if that meant I should be writing articles myself, being interviewed, or contributing to stories in some other way.

I had done both previously, minimally. Once year or so I would be contacted for a story, leading to some cool opportunities such as being interviewed at HLN studios in Orlando for a piece on NASA's planetary science budget, being featured in Florida Today's One To Watch, and writing an op-ed in favor of a new Florida spaceport. I wanted to do more but I didn't know what or how.

I signed up for a couple databases that promote female professionals as sources, though nothing ever came from that. I subscribed to an email newsletter Help a Reporter Out (HARO) that sends me a list of requests for sources from reporters three times every weekday. Requests for space sources on HARO is rare, but I was able to connect with a few opportunities. I am not really sure how the ball got rolling, but one opportunity led to another and soon reporters were contacting me (usually on Twitter) out of the blue. It helps that I follow and interact with all my favorite reporters on social media.

I didn't realize the number of times I had been interviewed or quoted in publications this year until I tallied it up. In the first year of my company, 2016: twice. In 2017: 11 times. In 2018: 31 times as of today. And two interviews done this year should be published in 2019.

I've been asked which space news sources I follow. I highly recommend looking these individuals and publications up:

Print

Alan Boyle, GeekWire

Anatoly Zak, RussianSpaceWeb.com

Andrew Jones, The Planetary Society & Space News

Brian Berger, Space News

Bryan Bender, Politico

Caleb Henry, Space News

Chabeli Herrera, Orlando Sentinel

Chris Bergin, NASASpaceFlight.com

Chris Gebhardt, NASASpaceFlight.com

Christian Davenport, The Washington Post

Doug Messier, Parabolic Arc
Elizabeth Howell

Emre Kelly, Florida Today

Eric Berger, Ars Technica

Irene Klotz, Aviation Week

Jacqueline Klimas, Politico

James Dean, Florida Today

Jason Davis, The Planetary Society & Rocketgut!

Jason Rhian, Spaceflight Insider

Jeff Foust, Space News & The Space Report

Jonathan O’Callaghan

Keith Cowing, NASA Watch & SpaceRef
Kenneth Chang, the New York Times

Leah Crane, New Scientist

Loren Grush, The Verge

Marcia Smith, SpacePolicyOnline.com

Marina Koren, The Atlantic

Michael Sheetz, CNBC

Sandra Erwin, Space News

Tim Fernholz, Quartz

Podcast/Radio/TV

Anthony Colangelo, Main Engine Cut Off

Brendan Byrne, WFME Orlando & Are We There Yet?

Carrie Nugent, Spacepod

Chad Anderson, Space Angels

David Livingston, The Space Show

Emilee Speck, News 6 WKMG Orlando

Gary Jordan, Houston We Have a Podcast

Gene Mikulka, Talking Space

Jackie Wattles, CNN

Jake Robins, WeMartians

Jim Green, Gravity Assist

Joshua Santora, The Rocket Ranch

Mat Kaplan, Planetary Radio

Michelle Thaller, Orbital Path
Rachel Crane, CNN

The Orbital Mechanics (Ben Etherington, David Fourman, & Dennis Just)

A few weeks ago during Thanksgiving week, I posted a thank you on Twitter to our fabulous space journalists for the job they do and letting them know I appreciate them and their work. The response from one journalist: we don't hear that often! If you appreciate the space news you read every day, thank the journalists who do the work to bring you that news.

My top three tips to help a journalist who contacts you:

1) Say yes. It's frustrating for journalists (and analyst) to find a source, take the time to contact them, and have them decline.

2) Respond as quickly as you can. They are on a deadline.

3) Recommend other sources if you are able. Especially if you declined the interview.

Once again, thank you to those who cover the space beat. I look forward to working with you and reading/watching/listening to your work even more in 2019.

Adding to the Legacy of Human Spaceflight with the Coca-Cola Space Science Center

With all of the space excitement in November, I'm delayed in writing about this great local news: the opening of the Legacy of Human Spaceflight exhibit at Columbus State University's Coca-Cola Space Science Center.

My son Leo and I spent the morning of November 10 in Columbus, Georgia as a guest for the ribbon cutting. Among the announcement: Apollo astronaut Fred Haise will be a special guest at the museum next July for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

My fellow museum explorer Leo strapped in for the ride.

Museum Executive Director Shawn Cruzen gave us the first tour. He described every item in the new exhibit with pride. This was my first visit to the museum so I was grateful for the explanations. Even though it was a replica, my favorite item was the Coca-Cola dispenser flown on the space shuttle before we realized carbonated beverages and microgravity don't mix.

Getting a first look at the new exhibit.

Executive Director Shawn Cruzen giving the first tour.

Replica of a microgravity Coca-Cola dispenser

Shawn was very excited to show us the exhibit donated by the brother of Apollo and Gemini astronaut Dave Scott and the mission control sign that will soon be backlit illuminated. I noted many personal touches among the donated artifacts.

Artifacts donated by Dave Scott's brother

After the tour, Leo and I explored the rest of the museum, which didn't take long because it's small. A space shuttle simulator vibrated like crazy, filling the room with rumbles. Images of human spaceflight were everywhere. A space shuttle main engine nozzle sat in the center of it all.

Space shuttle simulator

Mission control console

Space Shuttle Main Engine Nozzle

I took the opportunity to speak with a few of the museum curators and employees. I was surprised to learn how much work goes into identifying each artifact. I had the misconception that NASA keeps meticulous records on each part and its history, but this is not the case, especially in the days following the space shuttle retirement when contracts were ending and employees were leaving or had already left.

As an example, a curator explain one particular space shuttle piece of hardware, a tire, had been flagged as never flown but had in fact flown twice, a history uncovered by his efforts tracking down part numbers and going through databases. Even larger items such as spacesuits (their current project) aren't necessarily kept with accurate records. A lot of work goes into creating accurate descriptions on museum plaques.

I have a better appreciation for what curators go through to create records of history and human progress for the public. I look forward to seeing the Space Science Center continue to grow.