Rick Sterling first became fascinated with space travel in 1964 when the United States launched Mariner 4, the first successful Mars probe. In addition, the film 'Robinson Crusoe on Mars' (1964) also acted as a spark to trigger Rick's interest in space exploration. Mr. Sterling is a member of The Mars Society, The Planetary Society, The Enterprise Mission & The Space.Com Space Reporters Network (Community Contributor). Since 1990 he has been a consultant to the NASA Educator Resource Center at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV. He proposed the development of nuclear rockets to The SEI Presidential Commission (Stafford Commission), a proposal that has now been adopted by President George W. Bush & NASA.
Mr. Sterling provides recipients of his e-mail news notices the most complete and up to date information on a variety of space and related topics. It is also interesting to note that Mr. Sterling's ancestor was Sir Francis Drake. He is a graduate of Linsly Military Institute and West Liberty State College.