Joe Pappalardo (shown above eating a cockroach in front of Jeff Bezos) is the author of the non-fiction books, Sunflowers: The Secret History, Spaceport Earth, Inferno, Red Sky Morning and Four Against the West. As a ghostwriter, Pappalardo’s books have reached the top five spot on New York Times bestseller's list, both hardcover and paperback.
Pappalardo is a veteran magazine writer and former senior editor at Popular Mechanics. He’s written for publications including Smithsonian Air & Space, National Geographic, Texas Monthly, Esquire.com, Autoblog, Time and American Way, and he has been a guest on C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. He has appeared on television shows on the History and Science channels, including “The Proof is Out There: Military Mysteries,” “101 Weapons that Changed the World,” “Chuck Norris’ Epic Guide to Military Vehicles” and “History’s Greatest Mysteries.” His magazine assignments have included reportage from Afghanistan, Russia, Poland, Norway, French Guiana, Canada, Italy and Mexico. He’s the 544th person to fly in a B-2.
Papplardo is a 2023 Aerospace Media Award nominee for writing about the Webb Space Telescope and a 2022 finalist for writing about RS-25 rocket engines, a 2022 Defense Media Dinner Award nominee for writing about UAPs for National Geographic, a 2019 Defense Media Award nominee for writing about Air Force special operations training and he won the international Innovation in Aerospace Media and Publishing Award in 2018 for covering Texas anti-drone laws. (In 2022, those laws were repealed after being challenged in a First Amendment court case in which Pappalardo was one of the plaintiffs. A subsequent federal appeal upheld the laws.) In 2018 Pappalardo also won the Association for Alternative Newsmedia’s top prize for feature writing on the topic of human augmentation with electronic implants. He’s also received a distinguished reporting award for domestic defense reporting from Military Reporters and Editors, was recognized for science writing from the Dallas Press Club and for short feature writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. Pappalardo was a finalist for the 2007 international Aerospace Journalist of the Year award.
Joe Pappalardo graduated from the University of Missouri with an interdisciplinary degree in History, Spanish and Journalism. He is represented by Ian Kleinert of Paradigm Talent Agency.
Private consulting, ghost writing and appearances available on request.
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