Let's Get Off This Rock Already!
An Author's Adventures in Space Travel, Science Fiction, and Worlds Beyond
56 years ago today1, Apollo 11 made the first manned landing on another world. Ask the average American about it, and they'll likely be able to name the mission's commander, Neil Armstrong, who famously made his “one small step” speech as he climbed out of the Lunar Module Eagle; they might also remember Edwin “Buzz”... Continue Reading →
The good news is, nature has provided us with a planet startlingly similar to our own, orbiting almost within reach just 4.3 light-years from Earth. The bad news? It might not be a very good neighborhood. Despite being the best-studied exoplanet out there, scientists can scarcely make heads or tails of what it's really like,... Continue Reading →
An astronomy pop quiz for you: How large does a planet have to be before it can have a natural satellite of its own? It's a trick question, you see. There's no lower limit. In fact, moons aren't just the province of planetary-mass bodies like Jupiter, Pluto, and our own Planet Earth---asteroids have them, too.... Continue Reading →
Some of you may remember my previous posts about secret Apollo missions: Apollo 18, the ill-fated landing which fell victim to rock spiders, and Apollo 20, a joint US-Soviet effort which recovered a living alien from the far side of the Moon. Both are fictional, of course. One is a horror movie, the other a... Continue Reading →
The 1990s were not a good time in the former Soviet Union. When the central government fell, it wasn't just a political collapse, but a collapse of just about everything---the military, the economy, society itself. Ethnic tensions erupted into raging civil wars; rushed free-market reforms threw countless millions into poverty; amid political turmoil, President Boris... Continue Reading →
Very early on, my family instilled in me a love of coffee table books: hefty, hardcover volumes, large enough to double as paperweights or even footstools1, bedecked with photographs and artwork from front to back. Instead of reading straight through, you could open one to whatever page you fancied. They covered all sorts of topics,... Continue Reading →
Author's note: I originally published this more than three years ago, and took it down because it proved to be a magnet for genuine UFO conspiracy theorists---not exactly the audience I'm attempting to cultivate. That being said, I'm still quite proud of the piece and I want it to be part of my site. Hopefully... Continue Reading →
A story of family, interstellar travel, and dreams that span generations. Is it worth pouring your blood and sweat into something if you never live to see it? (Science Fiction) (Complete)
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece on the next steps for American space travel, and speculated about a permanent lunar base within the next two decades. Today I have another guest post from my friend Eamon Minges, following up on my speculation with some hard numbers---he definitely has a knack for that sort... Continue Reading →
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I have a special post for y'all, in the patriotic spirit of this great holiday. Right now, we're at a critical juncture in space history---any month now, we're supposed to see SLS and Starship take flight, after many years of waiting---and it's clear that there's a different energy in the... Continue Reading →
