79: Space Reporting, Writing and Communicating with Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell is a space writer, science consultant and writing teacher based in Ottawa, Canada. She writes about space, science and astronauts, and has even BEEN an astronaut in a simulation on Mars!**
Elizabeth writes hundreds a stories a year on the space business, from conferences, from live events and from my own home. You can see her work daily in places like Space.com, Forbes and SpaceQ. Elizabeth\u2019s notable projects include:
- Elizabeth journeyed to Kazakhstan twice to report on two International Space Station launches: Expedition 56 and Expedition 58.
- She documented living on a \u201cMars\u201d base for two weeks.
- And, Elizabeth attended three space shuttle launches (like this one), and talked to numerous astronauts about how to prepare for spaceflight.
\xa0
*She participated in the Mars Desert Research Station. Run by the Mars Society- researchers go there for 2 weeks with isolated conditions to work and learn and adapt to the environment. She rocked the research. Not so much the cooking\u2026
About writing her latest book:\xa0 \u201cCanada Arm and Collaboration\u201d about the Canadian space program, and it will be published in October. It will be my 3rd book about science that will be out earlier this year\u2026 What really made the book easy to write form me- because book writing is terrible- it\u2019s a lot of work and a lot of research- it was the result of 25 years of passion from the Apollo 13 movie just pouring out.\xa0 what I really wanted to highlight was the behind the scenes work the astronauts do.\u201d \u2013 Elizabeth Howell from Casual Space\xa0
About the story behind the story: \u201cThe challenge is that there\u2019s not very much coverage because there\u2019s only about 6 of us (covering space) across the country (in Canada), so I\u2019ve trying to attend as much as possible trying to tell the stories of both the astronauts from the launch, but they do all of these cool things on the ground that nobody talks about! They do underwater missions! They do geological field work! They do inspirational events for children! They have conversations with our Prime Minister! I like to be there and report when they are doing things in between (missions).
About being a writer: \u201cI was quite good at writing, it just seemed to come naturally to me. I had this ability to sit down and translate complex ideas into really cool stuff!\u201d\xa0
About inspiring her students: \u201cThere are many ways to do something. If you want to be an astronaut, I tell students that I\u2019ve gone and simulated being an astronaut, I\u2019ve gotten a degree where I was studying astronaut behavior. I\u2019ve written and talked to so many astronauts over the years, so I basically have come as close as I can!\u201d\xa0
\xa0
Where to find Elizabeth and her work: https://elizabethhowell.ca/
On Twitter: @Howellspace\xa0
Books: \xa0https://elizabethhowell.ca/books/
The Science of Time Travel: The Secrets Behind Time Machines, Time Loops, Alternate Realities, and More!\xa0\xa0
The Search of Life On Mars: The Greatest Scientific Detective Story of All Time by Elizabeth Howell and Nicholas Booth\xa0
And\xa0
Canadarm and Collaboration: How Canada\u2019s Astronauts and Space Robots Explore New Worlds