South Padre Island resident Louis Balderas’s around-the-clock monitoring of the Elon Musk company has attracted a worldwide following of space enthusiasts.
Fifty years after humans first walked on the moon, you too can play astronaut for a day.
For those of us born decades after Apollo 11 returned from its mission, the imprint of astronaut boots on the lunar surface has always been historical fact. We can’t conjure personal memories of that voyage, of families huddled around the TV or radio, anxiously waiting for news of that one small…
New PBS space-race documentary ’Chasing the Moon’ highlights her challenges as the only woman in Mission Control.
This summer marks the fiftieth anniversary of the trip that changed the world: the Apollo 11 moon landing. Texas Monthly has written about Texas’s role in the space program for decades, and our July collector’s issue combines the best of our archives with new perspectives on the final frontier.
With NASA’s ambitions trimmed, private space companies come to Texas, dreaming of Mars.
Tom Markusic, the founder and CEO of Cedar Park’s Firefly Aerospace, explains how the next generation of rocketry companies is different from NASA—and from SpaceX and Blue Origin too.
Fifty years after man walked on the Moon, mankind is still stranded on Earth. That’s not the way it was supposed to be.
The shuttle age commences, becomes routine, and draws to a close, while Mars beckons.
A numerical gathering of space data.
America finds inspiration and salvation on the moon—and then keeps going.
Two and a half millennia of innovation, from Archytas’s wooden pigeon to Neil Armstrong’s giant leap to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Moon.
Nearly sixty years ago, Funk and twelve other women proved that they could be astronauts too. But they never got to walk on the moon.
The West Texas border town of Presidio is one of the poorest places in the state. So why does it have one of the best high school rocketry clubs in the country?…
For the Renaissance man—a baseball player, a features writer, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker—the sky posed no limit.
NASA’s food scientists in Houston keep the astronauts on the International Space Station healthy and well fed. Thermostabilized seafood gumbo, anyone?…
Art dealer Arturo Palacios relishes the creative environment at this 1920s apartment building—especially its romantic courtyard.
The artists and former Texas State professors completely overhaul their home of 30 years, adding a studio and gallery for their work.
The engine that might get us to Mars and the unexpected pressures of taking a break in the music industry.
As an eighteen-year-old immigrant to the U.S., Franklin Chang Díaz dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Now, decades after tying the record for most spaceflights, he might be the best bet to get us to Mars.
Sleek, shiny rockets on sleepy, shifty sands: as SpaceX prepares to build in South Texas, I wonder if my old stomping grounds can handle the inevitable collision of cultures. I sure hope so.
The space exploration company achieved a big milestone—and took the pictures to prove it.
If you know what we mean.
When my wife, Sonia Van Meter, was chosen as one of the Mars One finalists, I realized that my potential loss was humanity’s gain.
More like awwwstronaut, right?…
Most likely a meteor, but if, 30 years from now, a mysterious alien superhero in red and blue tights and a cape starts flying around, you can say "I remember when..." …
This isn't a real proposal, but it is really neat.
Elon Musk has some big plans.
With support from the Legislature, SpaceX may soon be launching rockets from Texas’ southernmost beach. That doesn’t mean a few nature lovers aren’t still ready to fight.
My wife is a semifinalist to board a one-way mission to the Red Planet. I’m proud, happy, and thrilled for her. Now, do you want to know how I really feel about it?…
Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin have both bought up a lot of land along the border. Brownsville and Van Horn are not exactly where you'd expect to find the cutting-edge vanguard of private, high-tech space exploration. …
Ten thousand "city killers" pass by the Earth unnoticed every year, said a NASA official.
More talk about UFO sightings near the oil play in South Texas.
Ten years ago, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas as it reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Only $750 million per person. Five things to know about the Golden Spike Company's hopes and plans.
On September 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy explained why "we choose to go to the moon" to a crowd of 40,000 at Rice University. …
What people are saying about NASA's first woman in space, who died of pancreatic cancer Monday at the age of 61.
Readings from the spacecraft indicate it may have left the solar system some 34 years after it launched.
The Dallas-based billionaire is investing in Planetary Resources, a company that aims to begin mining asteroids for valuable metals by 2020.
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.
Some Apollo-era astronauts, including Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell, had their hands slapped by NASA for putting space artifacts on the auction block.
Watch a stunning time-lapse video of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final voyage through the streets of Los Angeles.
Thousands craned their necks at the sky Thursday to catch of glimpse of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which made its final trip across Texas perched on the back of a 747.
Joe Gutheinz has helped recover 79 moon rocks that the government lost track of in the past four decades.
Will SpaceX build a launch site for its commercial spacecraft in Brownsville? …
Richard Garriott, the video game pioneer and tireless proselytizer of private space flight, posits that old-fashioned entrepreneurialism will drive space exploration in the coming decades.
Skywatchers (and schlubs who just happened to be outside around 8 p.m. Wednesday night) were treated to the sight of a large meteor streaking across the heavens. …
Kepler-22b is situated in the “Goldilocks” zone, which could make it just right for maintaining life. …
The checklist that astronaut James Lovell scratched out to calculate his crippled spacecraft’s reentry into earth’s orbit fetched $388,375 at auction in Dallas on Wednesday.
