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 House Appropriations Committee will consider a fiscal 2016 defense spending bill May 20 that would provide $578.6 billion for the military, including $88.4 billion for war efforts. The use of war accounts for additional defense spending is part of a budget deal that Congress has agreed on, but that agreement sets up a budget showdown with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the defense authorization bill unless Congress also increases funding for other federal agencies.
After a failed attempt two days earlier, thrusters on the Russian Progress 58 re-supply capsule docked to the International Space Station (ISS) fired for just over 32 min. on May 17, successfully raising the altitude of the six-person orbiting-science laboratory.
