JOE PAPPALARDO is the author of the critically acclaimed books Sunflowers: The Secret History of Sunflowers (2008) and Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight (2017). Pappalardo is a writer and former associate editor of Air & SpaceSmithsonian magazine and a former senior editor and current contributing editor at Popular Mechanics. He has also appeared on the television shows What on Earth? and Strange Evidence on the Science Channel and Roswell: First Witness and Chuck Norris’ Epic Guide to Military Vehicles on the History Channel.