John Holst (AKA The Mad SpaceBall)

Writing, editing, and Space Operations

Always in front of the laptop.

Space Operations, Missile Defense Tests, Air Force Missions--what on Earth is a guy with a journalism degree doing in those careers? Ask me, and I'll tell you. I might even write for you, if you're just that interested.

John Holst (AKA The Mad SpaceBall)

Writing, editing, and Space Operations

Always in front of the laptop.

Surprise Job Transition: Served with a Side of Pancakes
I was going to learn something that morning, and it didn’t look promising. I knew the news wasn’t going to be good once I had entered the room. The whole get-together had started out nicely enough. Our division director had flown into town and wanted to meet with us. He’d done this before. We’d had lunch at an awesome Cajun restaurant the year prior.
Aerospace Job Titles – A Bit Like Naming Cats
That quote Is from T.S. Eliot’s “The Naming of Cats.”. If you like musicals, then you’ve probably heard it in “Cats.”. But this poem’s premise could be applied to the aerospace job titles category, too, and not just because it was quoted in “Logan’s Run.”. Names matter when looking for a job, and the space operations career field has at least three different names which poses some interesting problems.
From German Tunnels to Space, Part 1
Stay with me here, this will eventually lead to space-related topics. When I was much younger, I was privileged to live overseas twice. Both times my Dad moved us to the Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland Pfalz for German speakers)/Eifel region of Germany. It was very pretty—forested and hilly with networks of small, curvy roads.
From German Tunnels to Space, Part 3–Mittelwerk and Dora
This series started with my experience growing up and appreciating the beauty of Germany, its land and people. But with that experience came an understanding of Germany’s darker history, a history that country would rather forget. This is why Mittelwerk is important, especially for space. There aren’t many people in the world who know about Mittelwerk, dug into the Kohnstein mountains/hills (pictured at the top) located near Nordhausen, Germany.
Lost In Military Transition: Considerations Before “Getting Out”
A little over six years ago, I needed a change. I was a Space Operations officer in the United States Air Force (USAF). I was doing okay, accomplishing meaningful work, and enjoyed working with my colleagues–but things just didn’t feel right to me. They hadn’t for a while. So when the USAF offered decent money to the “surplus” of space operations officers to make an early military transition, I decided to take them up on it.
Aerospace History: Russia to China, Over the Moon
Interested in a little aerospace history? With all of the hullaballoo going on about the launch of the Chinese Jade Rabbit autonomous moon rover, a few enterprising journalists have done their homework and posted a very interesting space operations article. The result: a post to entertain the rest of us with a moon landing (sort of) story from history, nearly 55 years ago.
Another Systemic Symptom: Cheating Missileers
According to ABC News , 34 missile launch officers, or “Missileers,” were caught cheating on a monthly test last summer at Malmstrom AFB, in Great Falls, Mont. Why is this a problem? Aside from a serious integrity lapse in the Missileer officer corps, these officers were also in charge of, and trusted with, the nation’s ATOMIC missile systems (the Minuteman missile ).
The UN “Disaster Charter”–what is it and who uses it?
Quick quiz: What nation has invoked the United Nations International Charter for Space & Major Disasters twice in the past two months? What, you didn’t know there was a UN “Disaster Charter?”. You don’t even know what the Charter means? Well the Charter does exist, and you can fully get up to speed on it at the official Disastercharter.org website, right here .
Going from Government or Military to Space Startups
There have been a few articles lately, such as this one from Bloomberg, correctly noting the rise of private sector space startups. Companies like PocketQube , Axelspace Corp. , Skybox , Planet Labs , UrtheCast , SpaceX , and Virgin Galactic are all moving to become players in the “New Space” arena.
How to purchase an affordable small satellite – at the cost of a mid-size car
Do you have a spare $35,000 in your pocket? Would you like to spend it on something great that isn’t a car or a boat? Well, my lucky friend, here’s an opportunity for you—you can literally buy your own small satellite. That’s right, in a domain dominated by big US government, you can get your very own, somewhat affordable small satellite in orbit for less than the cost of a luxury Ford pickup.

About

John Holst (AKA The Mad SpaceBall)

Writing

Editing

Content management

SharePoint

PowerPoint

Office

Windows XP

Systems Engineering

Configuration Management

Space Operations

Satellite Operations

Research

Analysis

Communications

Military

Aerospace

Air Force

I write as a research analyst for the Space Foundation, a non-profit advocating all things space. I find stories within space technology and industry, analyzing and explaining them in English for the Space Foundation. I'm also part of a team of three putting together the Space Foundation's Space Report and website, writing stories, coordinating story submissions, finding stories others might not have thought about.

I wrote freelance for Clearancejobs.com about job search experiences and topics for the site. I also occasionally write for my own blog: themadspaceball.com. It's the "Cliff Notes" about space operations and issues in space for those readers who do not want a technical degree.

I graduated a long time ago with an Communications degree in Editorial Journalism over 16 years ago. Figuring the Air Force might be more interesting to me, I joined up at about the same time. Because of my degree, the Air Force naturally thought I was a great fit for Space Operations. And it turned out that they were right (which proves that blind squirrel adage)!

After 11 years I wanted to try something different. So I became a contractor and worked for the Missile Defense Agency. I was at first a System Engineer and eventually became an adviser for the MDA. The sequester abruptly interrupted my work for them.