Les Johnson is a physicist, author, former Chief Technology Officer for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Senior Advisor for League Advisors, and the Principal Technologist of Infinite Frontiers Consulting. He is an elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, co-founder of the Interstellar Research Group, and a member of MENSA.

 

          Publisher’s Weekly noted that “The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well…” when describing Les’s novel, Mission to Methone. His non- fiction book, A Traveler's Guide to the Stars (Princeton University Press) was positively reviewed in Scientific American, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, and others. The book is now available in 7 languages.

 

          During his 40-year career, Les worked 35 years at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he served as the Chief Technologist Manager for the Space Science Programs and Projects Office, the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project, and the Interstellar Propulsion Research Project Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office and led multiple spaceflight projects. Prior to joining NASA, Les worked on high energy laser and neutral particle beam missile defense systems.