How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Kenneth Chang, who covers space for The Times, discussed the tech he’s using.

What has stood out about how tech in the space race has changed in recent years?

The fundamentals of rocket science have not changed in the last 50 years. We don’t have “Star Trek” transporter beams. We don’t have antigravity. We don’t have electromagnetic rail guns. We don’t have space elevators. To escape the planet, it’s still the explosive churning of fuel and oxygen, igniting the mixture and blowing the exhaust out of the engine nozzle.

Tech moguls like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are now involved in the space industry. Do you give the edge to Mr. Bezos or Mr. Musk and why?

The innovation in the space business has occurred in the business side. Take Mr. Musk’s SpaceX. His company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule offer, more or less, the same capabilities as the decades-old Russian Soyuz. What Mr. Musk did was figure out how to build and launch the rockets at a lower cost. I like to joke that SpaceX is the Southwest Airlines of the rocket industry.