Journalist and author William E. Burrows, who explored the promise and perils posed by outer space including the proliferation of weapons and spy satellites and the threat of potentially earth-shattering asteroids, died June 29, the New York Times reported. He was 87. Burrows covered air travel, space technology, government secrecy and other subjects for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
He also wrote 14 books and established a graduate program in science writing at New York University, where he taught journalism. "Given the growing militarization of space and the challenges posed by environmental hazards and by weapons of mass destruction, Mr. Burrows believed that investing in space exploration was crucial, if for no other reason than to potentially save the human race one day by colonizing other planets," the Times noted.
His book This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age (1998) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history. Other works include By Any Means Necessary: America's Secret Air War in the Cold War (2001) and Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security (1986).
Burrows embarked on a career in journalism after receiving a master's degree in international relations from Columbia University in 1962. Later that year, he was hired as a news assistant at the Times, but left two years later for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia before joining the Washington Post.
He was rehired by the Times in 1967 to cover aviation, and the following year expanded an article he wrote for the Times Magazine about World War I German ace Manfred von Richthofen into his first book, Richthofen: A True History of the Red Baron.
Burrows then joined the Journal as a feature writer but left after about two years, unhappy about being assigned to cover financial news. He and his family subsequently moved to Spain, where he supported himself as a travel writer while completing three unpublished novels.
New York University recruited Burrows in 1974 to be an assistant professor of journalism. He was later named chairman of its journalism department (now the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute) and established a master's program in science, health and environmental reporting.
In 2001, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid No. 99330 in his honor, calling it Billburrows. Its projected orbit, he was quick to point out, did not put it on a collision course with Earth, according to the Times.