Marianne Dyson Biography

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.

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/

Interviews with Dyson on The Space Show are available for free download here.