Les Johnson
Les Johnson is the Deputy Manager for NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He is a co-investigator on a Japanese space tether experiment that will fly in the summer of 2009. During his career at NASA, he served as the Manager for the Space Science Programs and Projects Office, the In-Space Propulsion Technology Program, and the Interstellar Propulsion Research Project. He was the Chief Scientist for the ProSEDS space experiment, twice received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, and has three patents. He is an author of three popular science books, Living Off the Land in Space and Solar Sailing: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel, and the soon-to-be published, Paradise Regained: The Re-greening of Planet Earth, which will explain why space advocates and environmentalists should work together. Les was the technical consultant for the movie, “Lost in Space.” Les has numerous peer reviewed publications and has been published in Analog. He is a frequent contributor to the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and a member of the National Space Society, The World Future Society, and MENSA. National Public Radio, CNN, The New York Times, and Fox News have interviewed him. He’s appeared in several documentaries shown on The Discovery Channel and The Science Channel. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky and his Master’s degree in physics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.