Martin Collins is a curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and is the author/editor of several books on space history and on science, technology, and society in the twentieth century, including Space Race: The US-USSR Competition to Reach the Moon (1999). He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.

His research interests include history of post-World War II science and technology; history and culture of communications satellites; oral history and archives. His current research projects include:

1. History of the Iridium communications satellite venture as an exploration of 1990s culture and the economics and politics of the post-Cold War period

2. Documentation project on the effects of satellite communications on culture and daily life in regions, nations, and communities around the world

His current and projected exhibits include Cold War Laboratory: RAND, the Air Force, and the American State, 1945-1950 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002).