J. L. Pickering, who has amassed the world's largest private archive of US human space flight images, has been conducting historical photo research on the US space program for nearly 50 years. This includes assembling, studying, and organizing a personal collection of more than 250,000 prints, transparencies, and digital files. Today he serves as a resource for authors, museums, astronauts, and others. He lives in Illinois.

John Bisney is an author, journalist, and retired network news correspondent who covered the space program for more than 30 years for CNN, the Discovery Science Channel, RKO, and SiriusXM Radio. He witnessed more than 60 space shuttle launches and was one of the few broadcasters at the 1986 Challenger disaster. He holds a master of arts degree in journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He lives in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area.