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.
HOUSTON — U.S. astronauts could be returning to Earth very close to home after lengthy stays aboard the International Space Station — if Sierra Nevada Corp. becomes a NASA commercial crew services contract provider and the city of Houston earns an FAA spaceport designation for Ellington Airport, which lies within 10 mi. of their NASA Johnson Space Center training base.
NASA’s Lockheed Martin-built EFT-1 Orion test capsule is scheduled to begin vibration testing at Kennedy Space Center this week, followed by heat shield installation in May after successful verifications of power and command path routing throughout the spacecraft’s avionics.
Russia’s Progress 55 resupply craft reached the International Space Station (ISS) late April 9, delivering nearly 3 tons of propellant, crew supplies and research gear, following an expedited, four-orbit, 6-hr. launch-to-docking transit. The unpiloted space freighter linked to the ISS Russian segment Pirs docking compartment at 5:14 p.m. EDT, without suffering the issues that disrupted a similar “fast-track” launch of the Soyuz TMA-12M with three new Russian and American space station crew members on March 25.
