Space.com is an online publication focused on

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consi ...

exploration,

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

, skywatching and entertainment, with editorial teams based in the United States and United Kingdom. The website offers live coverage of space missions, astronomical discoveries and reviews about skywatching telescopes, binoculars and sci-fi entertainment gear. It is owned by

Future plc Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

headquartered in

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Its stories are often syndicated to other

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

outlets, including CNN,

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...

, and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''.

History

Space.com was founded on July 20, 1999 on the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing by former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and Rich Zahradnik in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. At that time, Dobbs owned a sizeable share of the company, and, in an unexpected move, left CNN later that year to become Space.com's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

. The company struggled to turn a profit in its early days and when the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...

burst in 2000, many felt that it would collapse. Co-founder Rich Zahradnik left his position as president less than two months after the start of the company, former

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonau ...

took his place but then stepped down in September 2000. Despite some growth, Space.com was not able to achieve what Dobbs had hoped for and in 2001, he returned to CNN. As it expanded, it acquired other web sites such as Starport.com and Explorezone.com. It subsequently acquired Sienna Software (the company which produced the Starry Night software), and in 2018,

SpaceNews ''SpaceNews'' is a print and digital publication that covers business and political news in the space and satellite industry. ''SpaceNews'' provides news, commentary and analysis to an audience of government officials, politicians and executives ...

acquired a partial equity stake in Space.com. In 2003, Space.co
received the Online Journalism Award for Breaking News
for its coverage of the Columbia shuttle disaster. In May 2004, Space.com's parent company changed its name from Space.com to

Imaginova Imaginova Corporation is a U.S. digital commerce company based in Watsonville, California. The company, which was started in 1999 as "Space.com" by CNN business anchor Lou Dobbs, later became known as Space Holdings Corp. Dan Stone became Presiden ...

and in 2009 sold Space.com and other properties to

Purch Purch Group, Inc. was a New York City-based digital media company. Originally established in 2003 as TechMedia Network, Inc., it was positioned as a "portfolio of brands and products focused on purchasing decisions"—consisting primarily of we ...

, an online publishing company. In 2018, Space.com and other Purch consumer brands were sold to Future plc.

Editors

Tariq Malik is the current Editor-in-Chief of Space.com, with Brett Tingley as Editor, Meghan Bartels as Astronomy Channel Editor and Mike Wall as Spaceflight/Tech Channel Editor. Photographer Jason Parnell-Brookes is the Cameras and Skywatching Channel Editor, and Ian Stokes is the Tech & Entertainment Channel Editor. Steve Spaleta is the current Senior Producer for video. Previous editors include: Anthony Duignan-Cabrera, Robert Roy Britt, Clara Moskowitz and Sarah Lewin.

Notes

References

Space.com Is Back In Orbit
- ''Forbes Magazine'' 18 January 2006 (accessed 5 June 2006)

- ''Forbes Magazine'' 5 July 2000 (accessed 28 February 2006)

''Media Life'' Magazine 2 January 2001 (accessed 28 February 2006)
Imaginova.com About Us
(accessed 28 February 2006)

External links

Space.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Space.Com American news websites Astronomy websites Space advocacy Websites related to spaceflight

History

Editors

See also

Notes

References

External links