Join us to celebrate the launch of Letters from the Edge, a new book from The Explorers Club chronicling the long and varied history of field correspondence.
Author Jeff Wilser will speak with four members featured in the book about their own Letters from the Edge, at the legendary Explorers Club headquarters.
Featuring:
- NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino FR’14
- Scientist and Author Charles Pellegrino FN’04
- Explorers Club member Chair-emerita of its Washington Group Lonnie Schorer MN’98
- Documentary Filmmaker Mariah Wilson FN’22
An exhilarating collection of letters and stories from the world-renowned Explorers Club, featuring firsthand accounts of crossing boundaries and making history over the past century
For centuries, explorers from all over the globe have traveled the far reaches of what the world has to offer, helping us expand the map, learn about other cultures, and move the needle of human knowledge. But an explorer’s work isn’t finished when they reach a new destination or make a discovery; they need to somehow tell the tale.
Letters from the Edge compiles letters, email exchanges, field journals, and more from explorers who have joined the esteemed and longstanding organization The Explorers Club. As they undertook their journeys, sometimes with their lives at risk, they penned their dispatches from afar, sharing their thoughts on enduring lava-spewing volcanos in Australia; suffering starvation and isolation in the harsh tundra of the Arctic; rescuing trapped kids in hazardous caves in Thailand; plunging into the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean to excavate the history of the Titanic; communicating with the other side of the galaxy; and so much more—all to quench the insatiable curiosity of humanity. And still, humanity strives to discover more.
Using source materials and interviews with the explorers, Letters from the Edge helps us understand the edge of our knowledge, culture, and universe, and inspires us to navigate the edges in our lives.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person launch at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Mike Massimino
Mike Massimino is a New York Times bestselling author who served as a NASA Astronaut from 1996 to 2014. He is a four time spacewalker who completed two missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, including the final Hubble servicing mission which has been called the most dangerous and complex mission in space shuttle history. Mike set a team record with his crewmates for the most cumulative spacewalking time in a single space shuttle mission, and he was also the first person to tweet from space. Mike received his BS from Columbia University and his PhD from MIT. He currently lives in New York City where he is a professor at Columbia, an expert television commentator, and an in-demand keynote speaker. He also had a recurring role as himself on The Big Bang Theory television series.
Charles Pellegrino
Charles Pellegrino is a scientist, author, and explorer whose work spans aerospace engineering, deep-sea exploration, and science communication. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, brainstorming sessions with Jim Powell—and later with Robert L. Forward on the “star-wisp” concept—led to their co-design of the Valkyrie antimatter rocket, (theoretically) capable of reaching up to 92% of light speed. In 1982 he also developed the first conceptual designs for a robotic helicopter for Saturn’s moon Titan and a melt-through probe for Europa’s ice shell, decades before such missions became NASA priorities.
A four-time New York Times bestselling author, Pellegrino has published across technical journals including Nature and Deep-Sea Research. A dyslexic, autistic child who “just wanted to feed from all the sciences,” Pellegrino transformed that curiosity into a lifetime of innovation and storytelling.
Since first meeting filmmaker James Cameron in 1997, Pellegrino has served as a technical advisor on numerous expeditions and film projects, including dives to the Titanic and hydrothermal vents of the deep ocean. While living in New Zealand in 1981, he devised the scientific premise that later became the foundation for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park universe.
Recipient of the 2000 Isaac Asimov Memorial Award for Science Writing, Pellegrino has also conducted forensic archaeology in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, interviewing survivors of both atomic bombings. His most recent book, Ghosts of Hiroshima (2025), became a New York Times bestseller and was recently nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction.
Mariah Wilson
Mariah Wilson is an Emmy-winning documentary producer and director with a focus on wildlife conservation whose work has taken her to six continents. She has produced content for PBS, Amazon, Netflix, National Geographic, Vice, A&E, Al Jazeera, History, Mongabay, Discovery, and more. Her work has been shown at Telluride Film Festival, AFI, SXSW, IDFA, Big Sky, DOC NYC, Santa Barbara, Woodstock, Mill Valley, Jackson Wild and has been supported by Sundance Doc Fund and Rogovy Foundation. Mariah is passionate about illuminating the myriad intersections between humans and animals, and celebrating those dedicated to protecting wildlife. She is a proud Jackson Wild Summit Fellow (2021) and Explorer’s Club Fellow. More at: www.mariahewilson.com
Lonnie Schorer
Lonnie Schorer is an architect, educator, explorer, and author whose career bridges diplomacy, design, discovery, and education.
A graduate of Connecticut College and Virginia Tech, where she earned her Master of Architecture, she has held roles across business, education, engineering, and design. Her professional path has taken her from government service and Smithsonian research to the Olympic Games in Norway and Atlanta. As Senior Vice President of Design and Construction for The World of ResidenSea, she oversaw design and coordination for one of the world’s first residential ships—an unprecedented project blending innovation, architecture, and global collaboration.
A passionate advocate for STEM and space education, she founded the Kids to Space project and Global Space Travelers, engaging students and astronauts in dialogue about humanity’s future beyond Earth. Her Kids to Space series, published in print and in braille, has inspired learners worldwide and earned national recognition for its educational impact.
A member of The Explorers Club, she has served as Chair of its Washington Group and led the 2019 Lowell Thomas Annual Awards. Recipient of the Women in American History Medal, she continues to champion curiosity, creativity, and courage as the true forces that drive exploration.
