Space.com

Space.com is a space and astronomy news website owned by Future. Its stories are often syndicated to other media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo!, and USA Today.

This article is about the space-related website. For other uses, see Spacecom (disambiguation).
Space.com
Space.com in October 2006
Type of site
News, astronomy
Available inEnglish
OwnerPurch (Future)
Created byLou Dobbs, Rich Zahradnik
URLSpace.com
Alexa rank 4,164 (June 2020)[1]
Commercialno
RegistrationNot required
LaunchedJuly 20, 1999 (1999-07-20)[2][3]
New York City, New York, U.S.
Current statusActive

Space.com was founded by former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and Rich Zahradnik, in July 1999. 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.[4] The move came as a surprise to many and was the source of intense media speculation.

The company struggled to turn a profit in its early days, and when the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, many felt that it would collapse. Co-founder Rich Zahradnik had left his position as president less than two months after the start of the company; former astronaut Sally Ride took his place but then stepped down in September 2000. As it expanded, it acquired other web sites such as Starport.com and Explorezone.com. It also acquired Sienna Software (the company which produced the Starry Night software) and Space News.[5] Despite some growth, Space.com was never able to achieve what Dobbs had hoped for and in 2001, he returned to CNN.[6] He remains on its board and still owns a minority stake.

Space.com has enjoyed the participation of several key space-related public figures, Neil Armstrong, Alexei Leonov, Eugene A. Cernan, and Thomas Stafford. In 2003, for its coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, it received the Online Journalism Award for Breaking News by the Online News Association.

In May 2004, Space.com's parent company changed its name from Space.com to Imaginova and in 2009 sold Space.com and other properties to Purch, an online publishing company.[7]

In 2018, Space.com and other Purch consumer brands were sold to Future.[8][9]

See also

References
  1. "Space.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  2. "Space.com - About Us and Our People". Space.com. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  3. "Space.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  4. Auletta, Ken (2006-12-04). "MAD AS HELL: Lou Dobbs's populist crusade". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
  5. "GANNETT ACQUIRES EQUITY STAKE IN SPACE.com – Editor & Publisher". Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  6. "Lou Dobbs to Step Down As CEO At SPACE.Com". Space.com. 2001-04-10.
  7. Alex Knapp (2014-07-17). "Space.com Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary". Forbes.
  8. "UK-Based Future Acquires Purch for $132.5 Million". Folio. 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  9. "Space.com". Future. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
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