James R. Hansen is professor emeritus of history at Auburn University. A former historian for NASA, Hansen is the author of fourteen books involving air and space and exploration. His 2005 book First Man, the only authorized biography of Neil Armstrong, has on two separate occasions appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list and has been translated into two dozen languages. In 1995 NASA nominated his book Spaceflight Revolution for a Pulitzer Prize, the only time the U.S. space agency has ever made such a nomination. His 2009 book, Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, has been called by reviewers “the definitive study” of the Challenger accident. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

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