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Andrew Rader facts for kids

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Andrew A. Rader
Andrew Rader Headshot.jpg
2019 photo of Andrew Rader
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientific career
Thesis Motion perception with conflicting or congruent visual and vestibular cues (2009)
Doctoral advisors Charles M. Oman and Daniel M. Merfeld

Andrew Alan Rader is a Canadian author and a super smart aerospace engineer. He's known for winning Season 2 of the TV show Canada's Greatest Know-It-All on the Discovery channel. Andrew Rader grew up in Ottawa, Canada. Today, he works for SpaceX in Los Angeles as a Mission Manager. This means he helps make sure space missions go smoothly!

Andrew Rader's Education Journey

Andrew Rader loved learning about how things fly and how space works. He went to Carleton University from 1999 to 2005. There, he earned two degrees in aerospace engineering. This is a field that studies how to design and build aircraft and spacecraft.

Learning About Space

After Carleton, he spent four more years at MIT. This is a very famous science and technology school. At MIT, he focused on aeronautics and astronautics engineering. He studied how humans can live in space for a long time. In 2009, he earned his Ph.D., which is a very high-level degree.

Andrew Rader's Career

Andrew Rader started his career as a research engineer. From 2003 to 2005, he worked at Canada's National Research Council. After moving to the United States, he continued his research at MIT until 2010.

Working as an Engineer

After finishing his studies at MIT, Andrew worked at COM DEV from 2010 to 2014. He was a Spacecraft Systems Engineer. This job involves designing and building the different parts of spacecraft. In 2014, he moved to Los Angeles. That's when he joined SpaceX, a company that builds rockets and spacecraft. He is now a Mission Manager at SpaceX.

Aiming for the Stars: Astronaut Dreams

Andrew Rader has always been interested in space travel. He tried out to become a Canadian astronaut twice, in 2009 and 2017. He even wrote an article for Motherboard about what it's like to be considered for such an amazing job. He was also thought about for a special one-way trip to Mars in 2014. This was part of a project called Mars One. A writer from the New York Times interviewed him about this exciting idea.

Andrew Rader's Books

Andrew Rader is also a successful author. He first published five of his books by raising money through Kickstarter. This is a way for people to support projects they like online. His first book released by a big publisher was Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take us to the Stars. This non-fiction book came out in 2019. It's all about how humans have explored our world and how we will explore space.

Books for Grown-Ups

Here are some of his non-fiction books written for adults:

  • 2019 - Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take us to the Stars
  • 2014 - Leaving Earth: Why One-way to Mars Makes Sense

Awesome Science Books for Kids

Andrew Rader has also written a series of fun science books especially for children! These books were also funded through Kickstarter.

  • 2015 - Epic Space Adventure
  • 2016 - Mars Rover Rescue
  • 2017 - Rocket Science
  • 2018 - Europa Excursion
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Andrew Rader Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.