Steve Altes

Steve holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): a bachelor's and master's in Aerospace Engineering as well as a master's in Public Policy. At MIT, he conducted research on space station construction techniques using SCUBA gear and a full-size underwater Space Shuttle mock-up at the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center. He led a team of MIT students in designing and building a five-person, forty-foot long, high technology "bicycle," to break the world land speed record of 63 mph for a human powered vehicle. This invention is on display at the Boston Museum of Science. Steve's 1986 master's thesis on the future of the U.S. space program was quoted in numerous magazines and cited in congressional testimony. It became the only college thesis in history ever reviewed by The New York Review of Books. After the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, the Office of Technology Assessment (Congress's think tank) asked Steve to participate in a thorough review of