The term "space cowboy" comes from the eponymous Steve Miller Band song of 1969. To understand what the phrase actually means however, you have to visit the middle of America and experience the mind-boggling transition from watching cowboys at a ranch to gazing at moon rocks.
As it is for many visitors, the US for me meant the Pacific and Atlantic coasts with a vast something in the middle surrounding the Grand Canyon. I'd travelled up and down the two coasts but had never wandered inland and I had my doubts on whether it was worth the trouble.