Darren Beyer is a contributor at Grit Daily. Beyer is the author of the SciFi novels Pathogen Protocol and Casimir Bridge.  He worked NASA at Kennedy Space Center as a space shuttle experiment engineer for nearly ten years. While there, he worked on the Hubble launch, as well as numerous Spacelab and other scientific missions. He conducted astronaut training, performed installations onboard the shuttle just prior to launch, and was part of the recovery crew following landing. Beyer has had the honor of working onboard every space shuttle orbiter except Challenger. In late 1998, Darren left NASA to become an entrepreneur, and, after nearly twenty years, an author. He is a student of science and technology, an expert in mobile technology and payments, and is an instrument-rated private pilot. Darren now lives in California near San Francisco with his wife, dogs, cats and fish.