Marianne Dyson was one of the first ten women to serve
in NASA's Mission Control. Inspired by the space
program and science fiction, she studied astronomy in
college and earned her degree in physics (cum laude)
from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Originally from Ohio, she moved to Texas to study
space physics at Rice University. NASA lured her away
from graduate school, and she became a Flight
Activities Officer in charge of crew activities and
procedures during the early Space Shuttle program.
Dyson left NASA to raise her children, and began
sharing her passion for space through writing and
speaking. Her first book, Space Station Science,
(Scholastic), won the Golden Kite Award for the best
children's nonfiction book of 1999. Home on the Moon,
published by National Geographic in 2003, was
serialized in the Denver Post and won the prestigious
American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award.
Her articles, poems, and short stories have appeared
in numerous publications including; Ad Astra, Analog
Science Fiction, Eat My Martian Dust, Girls to the
Rescue, and Odyssey.
To help students get accurate space information, Dyson
serves as a technical consultant for several
publishers, including Scholastic's Space
University series for which she also wrote book 8 on
stars and galaxies. She continues
to write and design the annual program book for the
Rotary National Award for Space Achievement
Foundation.
In 2007 she published Space and Astronomy: Decade by Decade and is currently working for National Geographic School Publishing on a physical science series.
Dyson joined the L-5 Society (that became the National
Space Society) in 1977 while serving as a
Congressional Intern in DC. She founded the Clear Lake
Area NSS chapter, served as Region 3 Coordinator and
Director, Secretary of the Board, Vice President of
Public Affairs, editor of Spacecause News, Chairman of
the 1999 (Houston) ISDC, and served on the
NSS Board of Directors until 2006.
She currently serves as editor for the NSS website book review section.
Marianne Dyson enjoys meeting more "kindred spirits"
who share the NSS vision of people living and working
in space. She offers free programs to NSS chapters
when she is in their area for author visits or
vacations. She has appeared on C-SPAN2, Reading is
Fundamental, and been a featured speaker at many
writing, science fiction, and space conferences. She
is available to the media for interviews and as a
technical consultant on space topics. For more
information, please visit:
http://www.MarianneDyson.com/
An interview with Dyson on The Space Show is available for free download here.