Skip to content

Zapata Talks NASA

Space exploration and development – more than numbers

  • All posts by date
  • The State of Play
  • The NASA Budget
  • Global commercial orbital space launches
  • US launches by launcher over time
  • Falcon 9 reusability trend data
  • Recent space launch pricing
  • The cost of SLS and Orion development
  • “KSC Next Gen” site (at Wayback)
  • My papers and publications
  • Especially birds
  • About

Tag: technology

An engineer’s journey in NASA

December 27, 2024January 3, 2025 ~ Edgar Zapata ~ 5 Comments

Space technology and policy on the final frontier It was time. I have published my prior writing in a more unified format as a book – “An engineer’s journey in NASA: Space technology and policy on the final frontier.” It’s difficult to describe the process of looking back and making sense of my years of … Continue reading An engineer’s journey in NASA

Now available on Amazon - "An engineer's journey in NASA - space technology and policy on the final frontier" - See the sample.

From NASA to SpaceX, and from Space Shuttles to Starships. Here are the reflections of long-time NASA engineer Edgar Zapata, providing a sense of the connections between these worlds. What lessons must we take to heart if we are to achieve our spacefaring future, sooner rather than later? Combining stories, experience, and unique insights, this book is a compilation and distillation of prior essays in a newly unified format.
  • My Morning Reads about Space Exploration, NASA, innovation, technology, risk, and adaptation
  • NASA Watch, Not a NASA website, you might learn something, Keith Cowing
  • Construction Physics, Essays about buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology, Brian Potter
  • Moving Day, A newsletter about the intersections among climate, thriving lives, and power, Susan Crawford
  • Noahpinion, Economics and other interesting stuff, Noah Smith
  • Planetocracy, The future of humanity in space, Peter Hague
  • Futura Doctrina, Learning About, and Discussing, War and Strategic Competition, Mike Ryan
  • Book Reviews
  • "Mission Out of Control," by Dr. Charlie J. Camarda
  • “When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-term Capital Management”
  • “Rescue Party,” a short story about NASA and SpaceX – written in 1946
  • “There is No Antimemetics Division,” by qntm (Sam Hughes)
  • “Escaping Gravity” by Lori Garver
  • “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow
  • “XX” by Rian Hughes

Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Zapata Talks NASA
    • Join 87 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Zapata Talks NASA
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...