Francis French (author)
Francis French (born 1970) is a book and magazine author from Manchester, England, specialising in space flight history. He is a former director of events for Sally Ride Science, and a director at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
French's space history books have been reviewed by the Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune , Jeff Foust of The Space Review , Student Life newspaper, Popmatters, Quest: The History of Spaceflight, Blogcritics, Space Times, Oxford Journals , Air Power History, Technology and Culture , Journal of Cold War Studies , Michelle Evans of the National Space Society, readers of collectSPACE, and Hugo Award nominee Steven H Silver of Silver Reviews, hosted by SF Site.[1]
French's space history writing is noted for the amount of personal interviews with astronauts and cosmonauts, including Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, and Pavel Popovich. In addition, French is a contributor to the magazine of the British Interplanetary Society, and is a Fellow of the society. In 2005, astronaut Wally Schirra personally inducted French into the astronaut branch of the Ancient Order of Turtles.[2]
French has made appearances as a space expert on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, Science Channel,[3] and The Space Show,[4] as well as the BBC World Service, NPR's "All Things Considered,"[5] ABC and other international broadcast shows.[6]
Both of French's 2007 books, Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965[7] and In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969[8] were named as finalists for the 2007 Eugene M. Emme Award given by the American Astronautical Society.[9] The latter was also named as 2009 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice magazine.[10] In 2008, French received the AIAA "Outstanding Contribution to Aerospace Education" award, and the "Outstanding Community Support" award for San Diego from the National Space Society.[11] In 2011, French's co-authored book "Falling To Earth" made the top 12 of the LA Times Bestseller list.[12]
On 20 August 2010, French was inducted into the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Hall of Fame for his contributions to space history writing plus making science and technology accessible and understandable to family audiences.[13] French joined notable names in space history in the Hall of Fame such as rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun and NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger.[14]
In 2024, French's An Unlikely Astronaut, co-authored with Susan Kilrain, was read in space aboard the International Space Station. [15]
In 2024 French was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Education in recognition of his distinguished contribution to STEM and to education as a whole from Brunel University, London. [16]
Bibliography
[edit ]- Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965, with Colin Burgess, 2007
- In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965–1969, with Colin Burgess, 2007
- Astronomica, Ed. Fred Watson, 2007 (contributor)
- The Great Explorers, Ed. Robin Hanbury-Tenison, 2010 (Yuri Gagarin chapter)[17]
- Falling to Earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon, with Al Worden, 2011[18]
- Apollo Pilot, with Donn Eisele, 2016 (editor)[19]
- Astronaut Al Travels to the Moon, with Al Worden and Michelle Rouch, 2021[20]
- The Light of Earth, with Al Worden, 2021[21]
- An Unlikely Astronaut, with Susan Kilrain, 2023[22]
References
[edit ]- ^ Steven Silver review
- ^ Astronaut Wally Schirra's personal website with photograph of Ancient Order of Turtles induction of Francis French
- ^ Television appearance mention with links to video footage
- ^ Archived appearance on The Space Show Archived 3 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Scott Carpenter, Second US Astronaut To Orbit Earth, Dies". NPR . Archived from the original on 24 April 2019.
- ^ ABC show archive
- ^ Into That Silent Sea official publisher site
- ^ In the Shadow of the Moon official publisher site
- ^ 2007 AAS Emme Award finalist announcements
- ^ In the Shadow of the Moon Official publisher site with notation of 2009 Outstanding Academic Title award by the American Library Association's "Choice" magazine
- ^ "AIAA Award Announcement". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
- ^ LA Times Bestseller List
- ^ SPACE CAMP Hall of Fame to induct four during annual banquet official site
- ^ Listing of all US Space & Rocket Center Hall of Fame inductees
- ^ Celebrate International Day of Human Space Flight with the children's book "An Unlikely Astronaut" in space
- ^ Five famous faces receive honorary awards at Summer Graduation
- ^ "The Great Explorers official publisher site". Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
- ^ Falling to Earth official publisher site
- ^ Apollo Pilot official publisher site Archived 10 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [1] Astronaut Al Travels to the Moon official site]
- ^ [2] The Light of Earth official publisher site]
- ^ [3] An Unlikely Astronaut official publisher site]