Dr. Stan Love, Author at Reactor

Dr. Stan Love is a planetary scientist, NASA astronaut, and lifelong fan of science fiction and anime. He is first or contributing author on 100+ peer-reviewed technical articles and abstracts in fields spanning interplanetary dust, impact cratering, chondrule formation, and planetary defense. In 2008 he flew in space as a crew member of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-122. He has nearly 2,000 hours of aviation time, including reduced-gravity aircraft missions and 15 hours of Extra-Vehicular Activity (spacewalking) time. Dr. Love served as CAPCOM (Spacecraft Communicator) in Mission Control for dozens of Space Shuttle missions and International Space Station expeditions, and for the Artemis II mission which circumnavigated the Moon. He has participated in many NASA “spaceflight analog” activities, which simulate space exploration missions in remote or extreme environments on Earth. He is a veteran of two 6-week Antarctic meteorite hunting expeditions. He is a co-inventor of the “gravity tractor” concept for modifying asteroid orbits. Dr. Love frequently appears in telecasts and in public, explaining space science and space exploration to general audiences. He holds a private pilot's license, a patent on a novel manual control system for piloted spacecraft, and a Master-rank black belt in Taekwondo.