Amy Shira Teitel

Teitel is a native of Toronto.[10] She has written for The Daily Beast, National Geographic, Discovery News, Scientific American, Ars Technica, and Al Jazeera English.[5][6]

In 2013 it was discovered that several of her early space history articles contained plagiarized material, lifted from various sources. The web site hosting the articles took them down after being notified of this. Teitel used the work of numerous space historians without permission or attribution and sold these articles to commercial websites.[11]

Teitel's first book was based on research for her master's degree thesis. Breaking the Chains of Gravity (2015) tells the story of America's nascent space program.[12][13] Kirkus Reviews called it a "must-read for anyone interested in the early history of space exploration."[14] Booklist called it a "fine authorial debut."[15] The book describes the early pioneers of rockets in the late 1920s, up to the formation of NASA.[16]

As a Jewish writer, Teitel encountered a sensitive issue 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."[9]

Teitel's 2020 book, Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight, is a dual biography of female pilots Jacqueline Cochran and Jerrie Cobb.[17][18]

Teitel is a co-host for the Discovery Channel's online DNews channel.[8] 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."[9] She also hosts a weekly show on her 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 world.