Rod Pyle, MA

Rod Pyle, MA is a producer, writer, and director of documentary programming for The History Channel and Discovery Communications, as well as an author of non-fiction books.
 
Notable work includes Modern Marvels: Apollo 11 for Hearst Communications and In Their Own Words: The Space Race; the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury Missions for First Person Audio. Rod was formerly the Vice President of Communications for the World Space Foundation, a space-advocacy association based in Los Angeles and closely aligned with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. While there he was the senior editor and contributor to their two publications, “The Astronautics Journal” and “Foundation News”. Both publications highlighted the Foundation’s significant work in solar sail technology and plans for a NASA-supported Lunar Polar Base on the moon. Rod is a frequent contributor to other publications, including Dreamwatch, a UK-based science fiction magazine.
 
Rod spent two years as a visual effects consultant on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was a visual effects producer for Joe Dante’s Warlords: Battle for the Galaxy for Paramount Studios. He co-produced and was the lead researcher for Patrick Stewart’s Nine Worlds, a CD-ROM released by Paramount Interactive, and was editor and webmaster of the product’s award-wining website for three years.
 
Rod was formerly employed at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA, where he served in various capacities for over 10 years. During his tenure, he produced Launchlink, a public celebration of NASA’s Space Shuttle in conjunction with NASA and FOX-TV, as well as authoring numerous handbooks. He was also a liaison to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for numerous unmanned planetary programs including Voyager’s 1 and 2.
 
Current efforts include a WWII feature documentary entitled “War Without Mercy”, as well as the completion of a compilation of historical interviews for The Hoover Institution at his alma mater, Stanford University.
 
His recent book Missions to the Moon: The Complete Story of Man’s Greatest Adventure is available now. Missions to the Moon traces our quest to explore this final frontier, starting with the deadly development of German V1s and V2s in the Second World War, through the pioneering adventures of the Apollo moon-landing program, and culminating in the future of lunar exploration with the recent missions by China, Japan, and Europe.
 
His book Destination Moon was released on November 1, 2005, and was reprinted in 2009. Rod produced “Beyond the War of the Worlds” which is currently playing on The History Channel. His company, Cinema Pacific Entertainment, recently completed 13 episodes of “Feng Shui Living” for the Veria Network.
 
Upcoming projects include Destination Mars, a book on the exploration of Mars for Prometheus Books, and he is working on a major educational outreach program in conjunction with NASA, as well as working on a series of space-themed books for the iPad.
 
Rod studied Astronomy at University of California, Los Angeles from 1976 to 1978. He earned his BFA in Film at the Art Center College of Design in 1978, and his MA in Communication Research at Stanford University in 1995. He lives in Pasadena, California.
 
Read his blog and his LinkedIn profile.