About the Author

Scott Parazynski is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including five NASA Spaceflight Medals, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, two Flight Achievement Awards from the American Astronomical Association, the Aviation Week Laureate Award, the Antarctica Service Medal, the National Eagle Scout Association's Outstanding Eagle Award, and the Lowell Thomas Award from the Explorers Club. A top-ten competitor in the 1988 US Olympic luge team trials and coach for the Philippines during the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games, he was selected as an honorary captain of the 2010 US Olympic luge team for the Vancouver Games. He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Meenakshi Wadhwa, the director of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University, and is working on new ventures related to commercial human space flight. Susy Flory is the New York Times bestselling author or co-author of eleven books. She is a member of the Authors Guild and was recently named director of a San Francisco Bay Area writers conference. A breast cancer survivor, Susy celebrates life by riding a crazy ex-racehorse named Stetson, hiking in the High Sierras, and skiing black diamond runs whenever she can.