Every now and then I get asked to do interviews or talk about issues that are non-technical but that really make me think. They are interviews that I cannot prepare or study for, but really force me to introspectively reflect and address how lucky I am to live in the USA, and this awesome place called Huntsville, Alabama, AKA “The Rocket City.” We like The Rocket City so much we made it the centerpiece for our Google Lunar X PRIZE team, The Rocket City Space Pioneers.

Nate Berg who writes for The Atlantic Cities, Place Matters publication, interviewed me about living in Huntsville. He would ask a myriad of questions, e.g., What is unique about Huntsville? What does it mean to me? What sets it apart from other cities? Why is Huntsville high tech and different, and is a pacesetter? Is it a fluke, or is it orchestrated? What do I think the future holds for Huntsville? Read the interview here.

Nate gave me much to think about in a real-time interview format. Luckily, my perspective of The Rocket City started with my being born here in 1964. What shaped my perspective were my familiar surroundings.  It helped to have grown up paying attention to technology: Thanks, Dad.

It also helped that Huntsville was leading the development of the largest rocket that carried the only men to the moon in the history of the universe. It also helped that all the Army/Redstone Arsenal developed many of the rockets that defended the nation in the 1950s-1960s. My dad supported these activities, both on the NASA side as well on the Army side. It was hard to ignore the huge living room widow rattling at our home in North Huntsville when F1 rocket engines were being tested during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.  My exposure to Southern culture and community would shape my perspective and understanding as to what is the common “glue” that ultimately binds us all together, both technical and non-technical in our community, and keeps the right balance between technology, work and play.

As Nate asked me questions, I could only think about the great people in our State and the insight Werner Von Braun had on helping stand up UAH Engineering, and what it would do to the future of this cotton community. I thought about our local Chamber of commerce and our mayor working hard to keep our community solidified, diversified, and on the forefront of opportunities.

I thought about running my business, Orion Propulsion, and all the great talent that was at arm’s reach if I needed to hire them. I reflected on how much my community and friends supported the idea that Huntsville needed a propulsion company and we should be building lots of spaceflight hardware in Huntsville. I remembered that Burt Rutan came to Huntsville in 1999 looking for Rocket Scientists to help him get to space affordably. It was not a fluke. I also thought about the cool work that Dynetics is pursuing with Paul Allen and what the future holds for our great State and city. And yes, I definitely thought about our cool Rocket City Space Pioneers’ effort to with the Google Lunar X PRIZE!

I appreciate Nate interviewing me for The Atlantic Review because it forced me to think about why I love Huntsville, space, and many other things about this country. Recently we were visited by NHK, the largest broadcaster in Japan, for an opportunity to share our Rocket City Space Pioneers story with them. One thing the crew pointed out was that they saw us as a very solid and tight team which used our Rocket City as part of our name, and they were very moved. Stay tuned for another story on their recent visit.