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.
An independent review board has concluded that a number of factors—including communications lapses, a lack of staffing, budget challenges and pandemic-related workplace culture changes—contributed to NASA’s delay in launching the $985 million Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid until October 2023.
Astrobotic says it has validated the Optical Precision Autonomous Landing hardware and flight software for its NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services Peregrine Mission-1 lunar landing, planned for early 2023.
