David W. Brown is the author of The Mission, the story of NASA's exploration of Europa, the ocean moon of Jupiter. His nonfiction appears frequently in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Scientific American, and The New York Times. He is an Antarctic expeditioner, an endurance runner, a former U.S. Army paratrooper, and a veteran of Afghanistan. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University and holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Brown lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.