Les Johnson is the Deputy Manager for NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He is also the co-author of three published popular science books, Living Off the Land in Space (Springer/Copernicus 2007), the 2008 PROSE Award finalist, Solar Sails - A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel (Springer/Copernicus 2008), and Paradise Regained – ... Read moreThe Regreening of Earth (Springer/Copernicus 2009). He is also the co-author of the science fiction novel, Back to the Moon (Baen/2010).  In the early 2000s, Les was NASA’s Manager for Interstellar Propulsion Research and later managed the $100M In-Space Propulsion Technology Program. He has worked for NASA since 1990 and has served in various technical and management roles.  Les is the NASA co-investigator on the Japanese space tether experiment “T-Rex” that flew in late 2010. He was the Chief Scientist for the ProSEDS space experiment, twice received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, and holds 3 space technology patents. Les earned his Master’s degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN and his Bachelor’s Degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY. He has numerous peer-reviewed publications and was 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. Show Less