Lardas, Mark: - Mark Lardas has been fascinated by things related to the sea and sky his entire life. From building models of ships and aircraft as a teen, his maritime interest led him to study Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, but his interest in aviation led him to take a job on the then-new Space Shuttle program. Over the next 30 years he worked as a navigation engineer on the Shuttle program. Currently he works developing commercial aircraft systems as a quality assurance manager. He has written extensively about aircraft and warships and is the author of 25 books, all related to military, naval or maritime history.