Mark is based in Houston, where he has written on aerospace for more than 25 years. While at the Houston Chronicle, he was recognized by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation in 2006 for his professional contributions to the public understanding of America's space program through news reporting. He has written on U. S. space policy as well as NASA's human and space science initiatives.
Mark was recognized by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors and Headliners Foundation as well as the Chronicle in 2004 for news coverage of the shuttle Columbia tragedy and its aftermath.
He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Kansas State University.
The board will assess the joint effort with the European Space Agency to retrieve and return to Earth samples of rock cores drilled and preserved by the Perseverance Mars 2020 rover.
Following their successful Demo-2 test flight, NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Oct. 23 for the first operational commercial launch of astronauts to the International Space Station.
An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the second Northrop Grumman Mission Extension Vehicle along with U.S. and Japanese telecommunications satellites successfully lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, late Aug. 15.
