Amy Shira Teitel

Amy Shira Teitel (born March 7, 1986) is a Canadian-American author, popular science writer, spaceflight historian, YouTuber, and podcaster, best known for writing Breaking the Chains of Gravity (Bloomsbury 2015) and her YouTube channel, Vintage Space. She has also written for The Daily Beast, National Geographic, Discovery News, Scientific American, Ars Technica, Al Jazeera English, and Popular Science. She is a co-host for the Discovery Channel's online DNews channel. Amy has referred to herself as a "professional space history nerd", and according to The Sydney Morning Herald, the popularity of her YouTube channel "has also resulted in her becoming something of a go-to girl for science shows on mainstream television." 2Career 3Writer Amy is a native of Toronto. She has written for The Daily Beast, National Geographic, Discovery News, Scientific American, Ars Technica, and Al Jazeera English. Her first book which was based on her research for her master's degree thesis, Breaking the Chains of Gravity (Bloomsbury 2015), tells the story of America's nascent space program. It was her debut book and Kirkus Reviews called it a "must-read for anyone interested in the early history of space exploration." Booklist called it a "fine authorial debut." The book describes the early pioneers of rockets in the late 1920s, up to the formation of NASA. As a Jewish writer, she says she came into a difficult problem writing about her childhood hero Wernher von Braun, who was a Nazi and a member of the SS, stating: "This was a matter of getting history right, which is something I'm very passionate about, but I also had to be careful not to incur the wrath of my family." There are accusations that some of her earlier writing had been plagiarized. 3Video and other media She is a co-host for the Discovery Channel's online DNews channel. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the popularity of her YouTube channel "has also resulted in her becoming something of a go-to girl for science shows on mainstream television." She also hosts a weekly show on her own YouTube channel, Vintage Space, as well as hosting a weekly podcast of the same name, both of which delve into the history of space flight around the worl