Thomas Paone curates the lighter-than-air collection of the National Air and Space Museum, including balloons, blimps, and airships. The collection consists of over five hundred items, from small pieces of fabric from historical balloons, blimps, and airships to the Explorer II gondola, which produced the first-ever image showing the curvature of the Earth.

Diane Kidd has a degree in art from the Pratt Institute and a master's degree in early childhood education from Bank Street College. She has worked with a number of publishers, and her books include Pluto's Secret, Weird Stories from the Lonesome Café, and more.