Heinlein Credit - NASA

Personal: Male. Born in USA.

Robert A. Heinlein was a well-known science fiction author who began publishing stories before World War II and continued a celebrated career until his death. He was the premier author of a technically-oriented type of science fiction, often in juvenile stories, which inspired many of the younger engineers that would make lunar travel possible in the 1960's. In these stories major corporations, militaristic organizations, and nuclear power were the key aspects of the colonization of space. Works of this type included The Man Who Sold the Moon, The Green HIlls of Earth, Rocket Ship Galileo, and Have Space Suit -- Will Travel.