Michael H. Gorn

Biography

Michael H. Gorn is an author and historian specializing in the fields of aeronautics and spaceflight.

His most recent work is X-Planes from the X-1 to the X-60: An Illustrated History. Published in late 2021 by Springer Praxis Books, it features nearly 100 original artworks by noted aerospace artist and professional Giuseppe De Chiara. X-Planes tells a 75-year story about the U.S. government's intensive investment in advanced aerospace research, embodied by its many experimental aircraft and rockets. The book asks a simple question: What have we gained from it all?

In answer to this question, Gorn provides a comprehensive overview of the X-plane's long history, from the preliminary flights of the X-1 in 1946 to the present-day X-60. The book relates events not just in technical terms, but incorporates such historical cross-currents as politics, federal budgets, personalities, the Cold War, and inter-agency rivalries. It is organized in two sections, with the first covering the X-planes that symbolized the Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., and the second surveying post-Cold War aircraft and spacecraft.

Another of Gorn's recent books is Spacecraft: 100 Iconic Rockets, Shuttles, and Satellites That Put Us in Space (Quarto Publishing Group, 2018), a definitive, international approach to the history of space exploration. It profiles and depicts spacecraft from the tiny Sputnik 1 satellite to the mighty James Webb telescope, and everything in between, including concepts that have yet to venture outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Artist Giuseppe De Chiara joins Gorn in presenting a profusely illustrated and authoritatively written collection of profiles depicting and describing the design, development, and deployment of these manned and unmanned spacecraft.

Gorn has written a number of other, critically acclaimed works. These include NASA: The Complete Illustrated History and Superstructures in Space: From Satellites to Space Stations, A Guide to What's Out There (both by Merrell Publishers, 2005 and 2008). He also published the award-winning Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA (The University Press of Kentucky, 2001), as well as The Universal Man: Theodore von Karman's Life in Aeronautics (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).

Gorn grew up in Los Angeles, California, and attended California State University Northridge, following which he graduated with a doctorate in history from the University of Southern California. A federal historian for nearly 30 years, he began his career in 1981 with the Department of the Air Force in Washington, D.C. He held a variety of staff and management positions there, including the Command Historian of the Air Force Systems Command, and subsequently the Deputy Chief Historian of the Air Force. Gorn then worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for 13 years, eventually becoming the Chief Historian of the NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Michael Gorn is the recipient of the Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award for Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also received the Alfred V. Verville Fellowship from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and was selected for the Fellowship in Aerospace History by the American Historical association.

Gorn has been a commentator on National Public Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel.

He lives in Southern California with his wife, Christine.