{"id":17662,"date":"2020-07-03T19:56:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T11:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/godspeed-alan-boyle-geekwires-science-editor-winds-down-daily-duties-will-be-contributing-editor\/"},"modified":"2020-07-03T19:56:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T11:56:12","slug":"godspeed-alan-boyle-geekwires-science-editor-winds-down-daily-duties-will-be-contributing-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/godspeed-alan-boyle-geekwires-science-editor-winds-down-daily-duties-will-be-contributing-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"Godspeed, Alan Boyle: GeekWire\u2019s science editor winds down daily duties, will be contributing editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Alan Boyle at the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch in 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the depths of the ocean floor to the launch pads of Cape Canaveral, Alan Boyle has entertained, inspired and informed GeekWire\u2019s geekiest readers in unexpected and surprising ways.<\/p>\n

Now, after a distinguished career in daily journalism, including five years as GeekWire\u2019s aerospace and science editor, Alan is stepping back from day-to-day work as of this week. However, we\u2019re pleased to report that he plans to continue to report for GeekWire periodically as a freelance contributing editor, after taking some time off for personal projects and travels.<\/p>\n

When Alan first discussed his retirement plans with us about a year ago, we couldn\u2019t believe it was true. As anyone has worked with Alan knows, it\u2019s difficult to imagine him retiring. When the GeekWire team gathered on a video call for Alan\u2019s send-off this week, he thanked everyone for their well-wishes, spent a few moments reflecting on his career and his time at GeekWire \u2014 and then pitched us on the stories and events that he plans to cover in the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Alan Boyle speaks with Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos at the Museum of Flight\u2019s Annual Pathfinder Awards in 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alan is a machine, but not some AI-programmed sci-fi robot reporter. He\u2019s a true journalist who knows how to dig, probe and get to the truth, no matter how complex the subject matter.  He does it with speed and a folksy Iowa charm that endears him to sources worldwide, possibly even intergalactically. There\u2019s a reason other space and science reporters respect and admire Alan \u2014 he\u2019s truly one of the best.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an achievement in this day and age for any journalist to retire voluntarily from day-to-day work, said Charlie Tillinghast, the CEO of Seattle breaking-news startup Factal. Tillinghast previously worked with Alan as the president and publisher of MSNBC.com, and made the email introduction five years ago that ultimately led to Alan joining GeekWire.<\/p>\n

Tillinghast joined us for the virtual send-off this week, congratulating Alan on behalf of his hundreds of former MSNBC.com and nbcnews.com colleagues. Tillinghast said Alan has been an innovator throughout his career, pointing as an example to Cosmic Log, an early news blog that Alan will continue to update.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou became your own franchise, and you just took that franchise with you wherever you went,\u201d Tillinghast told Alan during the call. \u201cYou\u2019re a great role model for how to do a career \u2014 just keep looking ahead, and keep trying new things, and great things will happen from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alan
GeekWire\u2019s Alan Boyle takes notes as he looks out the window of OceanGate\u2019s Cyclops submersible. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GeekWire photographer and developer Kevin Lisota, who tagged along with Alan on many of his adventures and space oddities, described him as \u201crelentless\u201d and \u201csuper passionate about his craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to tell him to stop reporting, and then he still reports anyways,\u201d Kevin said.<\/p>\n

That endless reporting energy and curiosity resulted in more than 3,450 bylines while at GeekWire.  If bylines were base hits, Alan would be an All-Star alongside Derek Jeter (3,465 hits), Carl Yastrzemski (3,419 hits) and Paul Molitor (3,319 hits).<\/p>\n

We know that one of the reasons Alan joined GeekWire was the opportunity to become part of a team in the Seattle region, where he lives, and we\u2019re glad that we were able to provide that camaraderie over the years. We\u2019re grateful to him for his many journalistic contributions, but even more for serving as a role model for our entire team.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a note that Alan recently shared with the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019m grateful to Todd, John and the rest of the GeekWire gang for taking me on board and giving me a great ride over the past five years, with hardly a break in the action.<\/p>\n

My first freelance story for GeekWire, about Stephen Hawking and the search for E.T., was published only three days after my last story for NBCNews.com, where I had just ended a 19-year run. Things went well enough that I was taken on as the full-time aerospace and science editor in January 2016.<\/p>\n

Since then, there have been lots of highlights, but my most memorable experiences have involved getting out and about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget the trips to Mojave to see Paul Allen\u2019s Stratolaunch monster airplane and Virgin Galactic\u2019s first 50-mile-high spaceflight \u2026 the opportunity to chat on stage with Jeff Bezos at space conferences in Colorado and Los Angeles \u2026 my sojourn to Mexico to hear Elon Musk\u2019s plans for Mars \u2026 and my travels with Kevin Lisota to see Blue Origin\u2019s rocket ship in Colorado, witness the Falcon Heavy launch in Florida and dive to the bottom of Puget Sound in OceanGate\u2019s Cyclops.<\/p>\n

I also appreciated being able to go to Switzerland and the Middle East last year \u2013 an extracurricular science journalism trip that yielded what may well have been GeekWire\u2019s farthest-flung datelines, from Jerusalem and Jordan. (I\u2019ll admit that Taylor Soper\u2019s dispatches from Beijing and Shanghai come mighty close.)<\/p>\n

In 2017, GeekWire became the only media organization to host one of the participants in the Brooke Owens Fellowship Program, which focuses on women in aerospace. I\u2019m proud to see how well our \u201cBrookie,\u201d Chelsey Ballarte, has gotten on since then at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility and most recently at Johnson Space Center.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m at an age when it looks as if I can actually take a break from the action and devote more thought to the big picture. Who knows what\u2019ll come next? Once the pandemic settles down, I just might find a book project or a social issue to sink my teeth into. But I also suspect I\u2019ll be checking in every so often to pitch a story or two \u2013 and cheer you on to new successes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alan Boyle at the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch in 2018 From the depths of the ocean floor to the launch pads of Cape Canaveral, Alan Boyle has entertained, inspired and informed GeekWire\u2019s geekiest readers in unexpected and surprising ways. Now, after a distinguished career in daily journalism, including five years as GeekWire\u2019s aerospace and science […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4798,21],"class_list":["post-17662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-geekwire-update","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}