The Planets - Photographs from the Archives of NASA

Nirmala Nataraj is a New York-based writer and editor with a background in science writing-particularly cosmology, ecology, and molecular biology-and a focus on the visual and performing arts. She is the author of Earth + Space.

Bill Nye the Science Guy is a science educator, television host, actor, writer, scientist, and former mechanical engineer. He is the CEO of the Planetary Society, an organisation that sponsors and supports space technologies and advocates for space learning and space exploration. Nye is the host of Bill Nye Saves the World, a talk show that will premiere on Netflix in Spring 2017.

NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), established in 1958, is the U.S. government's agency of scientific research, technological development, and exploration in space. NASA is responsible for unique scientific and technological achievements in human space flight, aeronautics, and space science that have had widespread impacts on the world.