About Andrew Chaikin

Andrew Chaikin has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for more than two decades. He is also active as a lecturer at museums, schools and corporate events, and in radio and television appearances.

Chaikin is best known as the author of A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story of the Apollo Space Program, first published in 1994. This acclaimed work was the main basis for Tom Hanks' HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, which won the Emmy for best miniseries in 1998. Chaikin spent eight years writing and researching A Man on the Moon, including hundreds of hours of personal interviews with each of the 23 surviving lunar astronauts. Apollo moonwalker Gene Cernan said of the book, "I've been there. Chaikin took me back." A three-volume, fully illustrated edition of A Man on the Moon was published by Time-Life books in 1999.

Chaikin co-edited The New Solar System, a compendium of writings by planetary scientists, now in its fourth edition. He is also the author of Air and Space: The National Air and Space Museum Story of Flight, published in 1997 by Bulfinch Press. He collaborated with moonwalker-turned-artist Alan Bean to write Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, published in 1998 by the Greenwich Workshop Press. Chaikin co-authored the text for the highly successful collection of Apollo photography, Full Moon, which was published by Knopf in 1999. His book, SPACE: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, was published in 2002 by Carlton Books. In 2004 he authored the chapter on human spaceflight in The National Geographic Encyclopedia of Space.

From 1999 to 2001 Chaikin served as Executive Editor for Space and Science at SPACE.com, the definitive website for all things space. He was also the editor of SPACE.com's print magazine, Space Illustrated.

Chaikin is a commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, and the NPR programs Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation. He has been an advisor to NASA on space policy and public communications.

A former editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, Chaikin has also been a contributing editor of Popular Science and has written for Newsweek, Air&Space/Smithsonian, World Book Encyclopedia, Scientific American, and other publications.

A graduate of Brown University, Chaikin served on the Viking missions to Mars at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was a researcher at the Smithsonian's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies before becoming a science journalist in 1980.

When he is not writing, Chaikin pursues his passion for songwriting and recording.