Andrew Chaikin was born in 1956. At the age of nine, he became interested in outerspace and the moon when Ed White walked in space on Gemini 4. While studying geology at Brown University, Chaikin worked as an intern at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Upon graduation, he began his writing career, and eventually became an editor at Sky and Telescope magazine in the Boston area.
Chaikin has written numerous articles for magazines, including Science Digest, Popular Science, and World Book. Coauthor of the book The New Solar System, the bible for planetary scientists and space artists, Chaikin's biggest accomplishment as a writer is his book A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. Chaikin spent eight years researching and writing the book, which chronicles the adventures of the astronauts who participated in the Apollo missions. The classic book became the basis for the HBO 12-hour miniseries, "From the Earth to the Moon," which was produced by Apollo 13 actor Tom Hanks. Chaikin served as a consultant on the miniseries, and even had a small cameo in one of the episodes.
Chaikin, also a skilled artist, enjoys playing the guitar.
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