Martin Caidin
Martin Caidin was an influential American author and aviation expert, born on September 14, 1927, in New York City. After a challenging childhood marked by the loss of his mother and time spent in an orphanage, he ran away to New York City at the age of fifteen and never completed high school. He developed a passion for flying and began writing at a young age. Caidin served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and Air Force, eventually becoming a nuclear warfare specialist for the New York State Civil Defense Commission. He was a significant figure in the aeronautical community, co-founding the American Aeronautical Society and working with renowned scientist Werner Von Braun.
Caidin gained fame for his novels, particularly "Cyborg," which inspired the popular television series "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman." His work on the novel "Marooned," which depicts astronauts trapped in space, played a role in influencing U.S. space mission policies. Caidin was recognized for his contributions to aviation writing and passed away from thyroid cancer on March 24, 1997, in Tallahassee, Florida. His ashes were scattered at Cocoa Beach, reflecting his long connection to the Cape Canaveral area.
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Martin Caidin
Writer
- Born: September 14, 1927
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: March 24, 1997
- Place of death: Tallahassee, Florida
Biography
Martin Caidin was born on September 14, 1927, in New York City. His mother died when he was two; when his father remarried, his stepmother would not raise him, so he was placed in an orphanage. Eventually, he went to live with his grandmother on a farm in upstate New York, but he ran away to New York City when he was fifteen. He never finished high school.
Caidin learned to fly when he was sixteen and also began writing for magazines. In 1945, he joined the Merchant Marine and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1947 through 1950, rising to the rank of sergeant. From 1950 to 1954, he worked for the New York State Civil Defense Commission as a nuclear warfare specialist, analyzing the effects of nuclear and other weapons on possible targets in the United States. In 1953, Caidin helped found the American Aeronautical Society and was the first editor of its journal, Astronautics. He worked on scientist Werner Von Braun’s rocketry team at the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cape Canaveral in 1955. Caidin was a consultant to the air surgeon of the Federal Aviation Agency from 1961 to 1964, and a correspondent for Metropolitan Broadcasting from 1961 to 1962. In addition, Caidin was a test pilot, parachutist, balloonist, and a stunt pilot who worked on several feature films.
While working at this wide variety of jobs, Caidin also wrote many novels and nonfiction books. His novel Cyborg, based on actual Air Force research, was adapted for television as The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off series The Bionic Woman . Caidin served as a technical advisor and wrote several scripts for the shows. His novel Marooned, about astronauts trapped in orbit, and the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, for which he served as a technical advisor, are credited with having caused the cancellation of the last planned Mercury space mission and inspiring the Apollo-Soyuz space mission in 1975. Caidin twice won the James J. Strebig Memorial Trophy given by the Aviation/Space Writers Association for outstanding aviation writer. Caidin died of thyroid cancer in Tallahassee, Florida, on March 24, 1997. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered on Cocoa Beach near Cape Canaveral in Florida, where he lived for many years.