A Child's Introduction to Space Exploration

Michael E. Bakich is Contributing Editor of Astronomy Magazine. He graduated with a B.S. in astronomy from the Ohio State University, and an M.A. in planetarium education (one of only six such degrees ever awarded) from Michigan State University. He is a popular lecturer and has given many print, online, radio, and TV interviews, and wrote, blogged, and starred in videos for Astronomy Magazine's popular website, Astronomy.com. In 2007, the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center designated asteroid 131245 "Bakich" in his honor. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

David J. Eicher is Editor-in-Chief of Astronomy Magazine, which he's led for 18 years. He has author, coauthor, or editor of 25 on science and history, including The New Cosmos: Answering Astronomy's Big Questions, and most recently in 2020, published Galaxies: Inside the Universe's Star Cities and Cosmic Clouds 3-D with coauthor Brian May. Eicher is Editor-in-Chief of the Asteroid Day project, and has written film scripts for NASA and planetarium shows for Adler Planetarium. In 1990, the International Astronomical Union named the minor planet 3617 "Eicher" in his honor. He lives in Waukesha Township, Wisconsin. Chelen Ecija is an illustrator and letterer based in sunny Spain. She loves to travel, eat sunflower seeds, and buy new books. She studied Fine Arts in Madrid and Chicago, where she attended The School of the Art Institute and she was an art director in a boutique toy company for a while while living in the USA. Now she is back in Europe, working as a freelance illustrator where she has specialized in her true passion: hand lettering and children's illustration.