Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle

Chris Dubbs- I have had a long, eclectic writing career, begun after earning a degree in writing in 1973. For ten years (1985-1995) I taught writing at Pennsylvania State University and published primarily fiction, including a novel (Ms. Faust, 1985, Richardson-Steirman/Warner Books) and numerous short stories in commercial magazines and literary journals. During that same period, I wrote a monthly travel column for Gallery Magazine and published articles on travel and history.In 1976, I published a non-fiction book on curing and smoking meat, The Easy Art of Smoking Food, Winchester Press, which is still in print. My interest in Man's space efforts extends back to my youth, when I belonged to a rocket club that killed off a few mice in a vain attempt to beat NASA into orbit. In 2003 I published a print-on-demand book with iUniverse on the dogs that flew in the Soviet space program (Space Dogs: Pioneers of Space Travel). The book was well reviewed and put me at the center of a subject that has received scant attention over the years. During the publicity following the book's release, I was recruited by the New Mexico Museum of Space History to be Guest Curator for an exhibit on the Soviet space dogs. The exhibit is currently in production and is scheduled to open in May 2005. Following its run at the Museum, it will be produced as a traveling exhibit and tour space and science museum in the U.S. and around the worldI currently work as Associate Director of Research at Keystone University Research Corporation in Erie, PA, U.S. Our work involves research, evaluation, and program management primarily in the areas of health and social services.