George Harry Stine was one of the founding figures of model rocket

Model rocket

A model rocket is a small rocket that is commonly advertised as being able to be launched by anybody, to, in general, low altitudes and recovered by a variety of means....

ry, a science and technology writer, and (under the name Lee Correy) a science fiction author.
Stine grew up in Colorado Springs and attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. Upon his graduation he went to work at White Sands Proving Grounds, first as a civilian scientist and then, from 1955–1957, at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility as head of the Range Operations Division.

Stine and his wife Barbara were friends of author Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

, who sponsored their wedding, as Harry's parents were dead and Barbara's mother too ill to travel.