User:Magneticlifeform

I am a retired rocket propulsion engineer with history at Estes Industries, Bell Labs (Spartan and Sprint), Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation (F-1, J-2, SSME, Strategic Defense Initiative), and ATK (Hercules and Thiokol before they became ATK). Authored An Illustrated History of Rocket Technology, 2nd Ed., 2012. My formal college education in physics, chemistry and engineering was from the University of Utah, Stanford University and BYU.

My interest in space science originated in childhood, listening to the static on my father's ham radio which he assured me "came from space". I built my first rocket in 1955 after learning of the Vanguard satellite program. The magneticlifeform moniker originated in 1969 when I submitted a paper entitled The Possibility of Magnetic Physiologies in Extraterrestrial Life Forms for a NASA Exobiology conference held at Stanford. The paper was summarily rejected on the basis "no planets can exist around pulsars because they are created in supernova explosions". Years later the first known extrasolar planets were detected--around a pulsar. I have 2 sons, 2 daughters and 12 grandchildren, all boys. My primary objective in editing Wiki articles is to make high quality data on rocket propellants and engines available to readers and editors interested in rocket propulsion. I also do a lot of research to improve the accuracy of articles relating to the history of rocket development.