Author J. A. Leary knows the meaning of the phrase “the sky’s the limit” better than just about anyone else. As a software engineer, he spent years designing processing software for the space shuttle’s main engines at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

With the safety of those on board the shuttle at stake, Leary learned what it is like to work on high-pressure projects that the entire world is watching. He also became entrenched in the policies and bureaucratic procedures which govern every aspect of the U.S. space program.

In recent years, NASA projects have been criticized for being too gargantuan, too costly, and simply irrelevant, given the myriad of other challenges facing America today. On your show, Leary will address these topics. He will also discuss NASA’s most notable successes and failures.

After a personal awakening of consciousness, his fascination with the supernatural led him to reinvent himself as a fiction writer.

Ask him:

•    What makes the exploration of outer space relevant today?

•    What does NASA do well, and what could it do better?

•    What types of safety procedures exist to ensure that accidents, like the Challenger and Columbia disasters, don’t ever happen again?

•    How does the limitlessness of space help define who we are?

•    Have NASA officials ever acknowledged the possibility of life existing elsewhere in the universe?

•    Why does a successful, educated professional want to pursue a new career?

CREDENTIALS: J. A. Leary, a software engineer at Rocketdyne, was educated as a mathematician and computer scientist. He is the author of THE ANGEL HUNTER, a just-published psychological thriller.

AVAILABILITY: Orlando, FL, nationwide by arrangement and via telephone
CONTACT: John Leary, (407) 489-1285 (FL); jaleary@jaleary.com; www.jaleary.com