Leonard David

Leonard David is Research Associate for Secure World Foundation, has been writing about global space activities for some 50 years. He is an award-winning journalist and is SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist, a correspondent for Space News newspaper, a contributing writer for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace America magazine and also serves as a consultant to the Coalition for Space Exploration.

Leonard's activism has focused on the outer space arena, from planetary defense and curbing orbital debris to use of satellites for providing enhanced stewardship of planet Earth.

Leonard has been a consultant to NASA, other government agencies, the aerospace industry and media outlets. In the mid-1980's he served as Director of Research for the National Commission on Space, a U.S. Congress/White House study that appraised the next 50 to 100 years of space exploration.

Leonard's interest in space matters has led to his co-authoring of Extreme Flight: Rocket Science in 2006. As a Contributing Essayist, his writings can be found in the National Geographic`s Encyclopedia of Space published in 2004. Leonard is a co-author of the book Chaos to Cosmos - A Space Odyssey, published by the Denver Museum of Nature & Space in 2003. He also served as editor-in-chief of the National Space Society`s Ad Astra and Space World magazines and the newsstand publication, Final Frontier.

In 2011, Leonard was awarded the National Space Club Press Award at the 54th Annual Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, DC. Leonard has also been honored to receive the internationally recognized Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Award for Best Space Submission at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in England in 2006 and in Paris in 2003. Also in 2006, he received the Orbit award for Space Media from the Space Tourism Society. Later that year, he won the 2nd Annual Space Journalism award for best article on human spacefaring for January-September 2005 and in 2001 won the National Space Society's Space Pioneer Award for Media.

Education

Leonard attended Mesa Junior College and San Diego State University, earning a High Degree of Interest in the future of space exploration. In 2010, he received a Journalism Fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.