John Powell, or JP as he is known is a man in the middle. To the space community he's "That crazy balloon guy," to the balloon community he's "That crazy space guy." The reality is that he is both.
For the past 28 years he has been the President of JP Aerospace, America's OTHER Space Program. He and his team at JPA have flown nearly a hundred missions from rockets to airships.
He has two patents pending for airship related work and has designed, built and tested one of the very few propellers that function at 100,000 feet. He has built and flown sounding rockets for the US Air Force and the State of Texas.
Many of JP's innovative flights have been reported in Popular Mechanics, Space News, and CNN, amongst others.
An ABC news series on JP Aerospace was the winner of a television Emmy Award. JP is recognized as an expert in low cost rocket and airship design and flight, and is frequently asked to participate on government reviews and expert panels. He started the PongSat student flight program, now having flown over 3000 experiments to 100,000 feet involving more than 8,000 students, at no cost to the schools or students. He is the recipient of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin Award.
