Rod Pyle writes on NASA and space exploration history. His science books have been published by Prometheus/Random House, Smithsonian, HarperCollins, McGraw-Hill and Carlton Books, and are part of the permanent collection of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “Destination Moon” was cited as a “Top Ten Science Book of 2005” by About.com, and has been published in three editions. His “Destination Mars” was published in 2013 and has received rave reviews, been selected by Scientific American as a book club publication, and was recommended for classroom use by the National Science Teachers Association. “Missions to the Moon,” published in 2009 and 2010, continues in press with robust sales, and his 2004 “In Their Own words: The Space Race” audiobook is a classroom staple. Two new books, “Innovation the NASA Way” and “Curiosity” were released in 2014 to high praise.Rod is a space journalist, making regular written and video contributions to Space.com, LiveScience and other science news outlets. His frequent radio interviews can be heard on WGN/Chicago, KFI, BBC and NPR. In 2010-2011, Rod developed and presented leadership training for NASA at the Johnson Space Center. This program presents the history of leadership during the Apollo lunar program to the top executives of Conoco-Phillips, Michelin USA, and a number of other Fortune 100 companies. As a producer-writer, Rod has created non-fiction programming for The History Channel, Veria TV, Discovery Communications and other clients. He worked for seven years in visual effects for “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and the new “Battlestar Galactica” for Paramount Television. Rod also worked in the TV commercial industry, with such clients as IBM, Ford, Xerox, Dr. Pepper and Coors. He taught communication and media production at the university level for 10 years, and was an assistant professor at the University of La Verne through 2005.

On the show, Rod Pyle talked about innovation practices at NASA. He discussed the Mars missions and their innovation challenges. He also explained the differences between the processes at privately owned companies, and governement-run NASA. According to Pyle, some keys to successful NASA projects include: being very clever with money, giving design teams goal mandates, thinking outside the box and trying to accomplish something wild. Ideas are developed, pared down, further developed, then one is chosen. It is important to give people an ownership in the process, set big aggressive, impossible goals and give the team resources to attack those goals.