Valerie Neal is a space historian and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Her specialty is human spaceflight, space technology, and space science in the Space Shuttle era and beyond. She is keenly interested in space exploration generally, its place in American culture, and the achievements of women throughout the space program. At the Museum, she has collected more than 1500 artifacts of the shuttle era, curated three exhibitions and three documentary programs for the Smithsonian Channel (cable TV), published books and articles growing from her research, lectured in the USA and abroad, and given many interviews for US and other media. Before joining the Museum, she was a writer and editor for some 25 NASA publications on Space Shuttle and Spacelab missions, the Hubble Space Telescope and other Great Observatories, space science, and NASA History. She participated in underwater astronaut training in Alabama and mission support in Houston for four Space Shuttle missions. She has taught American Studies and writing courses at the University of Minnesota, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Vanderbilt University. Valerie Neal holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in American Studies and a B.A. degree in English and History.