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In 1971, famed astronaut Alan Shepard returned from the moon and went to  get a haircut. Before settling into the barber's chair in Webster,  Texas, near NASA's Mission Control, Shepard gave his longtime barber and  friend, Carlos Villagomez, an autographed golf ball.

During his  Apollo 14 moonwalk, Shepard had conducted a world-famous demonstration  of gravity by hitting a golf ball in an out-of-this-world sand trap. It  took him two tries. 

Carlos, a Navy combat veteran and barber for  numerous astronauts, says Shepard gave him the ball immediately after  he returned to earth and was released from quarantine.
Had Shepard taken a third ball to the moon? And did he give it to his barber as a token of their long friendship? Is the ball  one of the most significant pieces of sports memorabilia in history, or  simply a gift of enduring friendship? Did the barber's golf ball fly to  the moon? 

Mitchell will forever be known as “the father of fracking,” but he didn’t invent the drilling process; he perfected it and made it profitable, one of many varied ventures he pursued for years.

Long before his company ever fracked a well, he pioneered sustainable development by creating The Woodlands, near Houston, one of the first and most successful master-planned communities. Its focus on environmental protection and livability redefined the American suburb. This apparent contradiction between his energy interests and environmental pursuits, which his son Todd dubbed “the Mitchell Paradox”, was just one of many that defined Mitchell’s life.

Illegal immigration is among the most challenging and divisive issues facing America. With few changes in immigration laws since 1986, the undocumented population has swelled to an estimated 11 million. 

Deconstructed unravels these economic issues and their human toll through the eyes of Houston businessman Stan Marek, who’s watched the immigration crisis unfold over 40 years. A descendant of Czech immigrants himself, Marek runs one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the U.S. He has seen construction work devolve from offering middle-class careers to trapping illegal immigrants in the shadows of the economy— paid in cash, without overtime or access to health care. Marek sees a burgeoning crisis for his industry, the national economy and the undocumented immigrants themselves - a crisis he has vowed to prevent. 

In Deconstructed, award-winning business journalist Loren Steffy traces Marek’s own family history, intertwined with changes in immigration law for more than a century. Steffy examines the economic forces driving illegal immigration and outlines solutions that could enhance our economy, the construction business, and the lives of immigrants.