Johnson to present space lectures at ACTC, Highlands

Oct. 23—ASHLAND — Ashland native and NASA technologist and author Les Johnson will appear at several locations during a visit to his hometown.

Johnson will present "Harvesting Space for a Greener Earth," a seminar about how space technology and resources can be used to help solve energy and environmental problems on Earth at noon Nov. 4 in the teleconference room of the Learning Resource Center on the College Drive Campus of Ashland Community and Technical College.

He also will talk about space travel at 11 a.m. Nov. 5 at the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center, where he will talk about space travel.

Following his talk at the museum, Johnson will have a book signing from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Broadway Books and from 2 to 3 p.m. at Conquest Books.

After graduating from Paul G. Blazer High School, Johnson earned a bachelor's degree from Transylvania University and his master's degree at Vanderbilt University.

Johnson has written several science fiction novels and multiple popular science, non-fiction books about space and space exploration, including his recently published "A Traveler's Guide to the Stars" from Princeton University Press.

Johnson currently works at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he serves as the principal investigator of the United States' first interplanetary solar sail space mission, Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout.

NEA Scout will "use a 925-square-foot solar sail to propel a small spacecraft to rendezvous with an asteroid," Johnson explained.

During his career at NASA, Johnson has served as the manager for the Space Science Programs and Projects Office, the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project, and the Interstellar Propulsion Research Project.

He is a founding member of the Interstellar Research Group, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, a member of the National Space Society and was accepted into MENSA.