Travis S. Taylor

Travis Shane Taylor (born 24 July 1968 in Decatur, Alabama) is an aerospace engineer, optical scientist, science fiction author, and star of National Geographic Channel's Rocket City Rednecks. Taylor has written more than 25 technical papers, 14 science fiction novels and two textbooks, and has appeared in multiple television documentaries, including NGC’s recently highly rated special When Aliens Attack.

Taylor grew up in rural North Alabama alongside his older brother Gregory, a Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Reserves. As a boy, Taylor read science fiction and dismantled household electronics. In the eighth grade, he wrote a novella about a post-nuclear-war America featuring an aerospace engineer who carried a bullwhip and used a little flying wing that he had invented to spy on the Soviets. His father, Charles Taylor, worked as a machinist at Wyle Laboratories, which subcontracted for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the 1960s, wherein he built America's first satellites directly with Wernher von Braun. While in high school, Taylors' family moved to Somerville, near Huntsville, next door to an Army scientist. At 17 years old, with the help of his neighbor, he built a radio telescope that won the state science fair and placed sixth in the nation. This led the Army to offer Taylor a job working at Redstone Arsenal on direct energy weapons systems directly out of high school as well as a scholarship. Taylor is a black belt martial artist, a private pilot, a SCUBA diver, races mountain bikes, competed in triathlons, and has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of several hard rock bands. Taylor lives near Huntsville with his wife Karen, daughter Kalista Jade, two dogs Stevie and Wesker, and his cat Kuro.