Kevin Zagorski 🚀 📡

The best Antarctic baker I know wrote a lovely story that I think you should read.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-most-beautiful-freezer-in-the-world

Grateful to be recognized alongside some outstanding photographers by The Explorer's Club. https://www.explorers.org/photo-contest-2026/

Do I have any followers who know folks in the polymer science field? My company is looking for a wicked smart individual who will make a big impact in human spaceflight!

https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vast/jobs/4583640006

always easy to spot the engineers at the star trek event because they're the ones taking selfies with the warp core.

brushing up on space station acoustics design is much more enjoyable with a catalina express spicy bloody mary in hand.

Super interesting paper cited here on the topic of space station cleanliness. It's not a matter of being "too dirty" or "too clean" - the variety and distribution of microbes on your station can have a huge impact on astronaut health.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/international-space-station-microbial

harvest your dinner from oil rig support beams. you can just do things.

We recently completed rolling and welding of the first hull section of our first space station, Haven-1, which will launch in 2026.

crewed.
spaceflight.
hardware.

Made in the great state of California!
(📸 via Vast)

After fixing a mailing address snafu I finally received my Antarctic Service medal. It's one of the few DoD medals that civilians are eligible for. Pretty neat.

Qualifying for the medal itself only requires 10 days of service on continent. The "Wintered Over" bar takes a little bit longer to get...

Realizing I haven't updated the fediverse on my new gig: I started a few weeks ago in the Flight Safety & Mission Assurance group at Vast. We're vying to build the replacement to the International Space Station. It's really cool!