Good Riddance, Elon Musk, and Good Luck, Texas

California Is All the Richer for Losing the World’s Fourth Wealthiest Person

Thank you, Texas, for taking Elon Musk off of California’s hands.

Perhaps that reaction surprises you. After all, your state leaders declared victory when Musk, chief of Tesla and SpaceX, announced the move of his personal residence from L.A. to Austin. And it may seem strange for our state to not even blink as we watch the world’s fourth-richest person walk out the door.

But our sanguine reaction is actually a sign of two things: our growing recognition of the hazards of living amongst the very rich, and the fact that we …

The High Desert City That’s Lost in Space | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The High Desert City That’s Lost in Space

Earth to Palmdale: It’s Time to Focus on Your Community, Not the Cosmos

Hello, Palmdale. It’s planet Earth calling. Are you ever coming back here?

You, a sprawling and struggling working-class exurb of 160,000, may be located in the Antelope Valley, at the north …

NASA’s Other Moonshot Helped Revolutionize Marketing

The Apollo Moon Landing Wasn't Supposed to Be Broadcast, Until a Team of Ex-Reporters Pushed for Live TV

On July 20, 1969, an estimated 600 million people watched and listened in real time as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the surface of the moon. …

What’s Good for Putin Is Good for California

From Aerospace to Hollywood Bad Guys, a New Cold War Offers Myriad Opportunities for the State to Prosper

Here are two words Californians should say to Vladimir Putin:

Thank you.

California, with its historic reliance on defense-related industries, never quite recovered from the end of the Cold War. Today, Los …

The Sky Is Falling, Again

The Sequester and the Booms and Busts of Aerospace

Have the budget cuts in Washington, known as the sequester, brought on another great decline of California aerospace, the business that built L.A.? The history of Southern California’s aerospace industry …

Lost In Space

Should the U.S. Government Spend Billions On NASA?

Ever since Sputnik 1, millions of American kids have dreamed of becoming astronauts—while the U.S. has spent billions of dollars on sending shuttles, people, satellites, and more out into the …