Christopher Lee Jones
Christopher Lee Jones is a full-time Author at On the Hook Publishing, an independent press based in Fort Pierce, Florida, and a retired Fire Fighter Paramedic who served with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. He is best known as the author of Mars Mission I: Surviving the Kessler Effect, a science fiction thriller grounded in the orbital debris research of Donald J. Kessler, the retired NASA Senior Scientist who first modeled the collisional cascading scenario in low Earth orbit now known as the Kessler syndrome. Christopher has written full-time at On the Hook Publishing since 2020.
Mars Mission I: Surviving the Kessler Effect imagines the destruction of two satellites in low Earth orbit triggering a cascading chain of collisions that severs Earth’s space-based communications, leaving astronauts aboard the International Space Station and the first crewed mission to Mars to fend for themselves while life on the ground unravels without GPS, phone service, power, and transportation.
Donald Kessler himself praised the novel, saying it illustrates orbital debris issues better than the film Gravity. An expanded Second Edition deepens the book’s treatment of how the Kessler Effect could degrade the standard of living on Earth, and the story is planned as the opening installment of an eventual trilogy.
Beyond fiction, Christopher has become a public advocate for orbital debris awareness and space sustainability. Following the 2025 International Astronautical Congress in Sydney, Australia — whose theme was “Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth” — he reported that no national space agency currently has an active mission planned to remove orbital debris, despite space sustainability serving as the Congress’s central topic for two consecutive years. Read Space Is Getting Crowded — and Dangerous.
He has also championed formal recognition of Donald Kessler’s decades of discoveries at NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, an effort that culminated in the University of Houston awarding Kessler an honorary doctorate in 2026. Read Donald J. Kessler: Honorary Ph.D. from University of Houston and The University of Houston delivered Donald Kessler’s honorary doctorate.
In September 2025, Christopher discussed the Kessler Effect on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, explaining how even a fleck of paint traveling at orbital speeds once forced the replacement of a Space Shuttle windshield and warning of the millions of untrackable debris fragments smaller than 10 centimeters now circling Earth. He has also appeared on the American Space Museum’s Stay Curious program in Titusville, Florida. Watch Christopher Jones and book Mars Mission I.
Listen to Space Debris Dangers. Watch Interview: Chat About The Kessler Effect with Donald Kessler and Christopher Lee Jones, Christopher Jones and book Mars Mission I, and A Great Father’s Day Gift. Mars Mission I: Surviving the Kessler Effect.
He continues to meet readers at book signings around the country, including the 2026 Chattanooga Charge, an annual gathering of electric vehicle owners involved in sustainability efforts, Cybertruck Rodeo, X-Takeover, Cyberfest & Furious, and Tesla SpaceJam. Read Book Signing: March 2026.
Christopher’s path to writing followed a long career in public service and maritime work. He obtained his Fire Certification along with Paramedic and EMT certificates and served with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, one of the largest fire-rescue departments in the United States, for many years before retiring in 2019. Earlier, he earned his United States Coast Guard Captain’s license and his Advanced Scuba Diver certification while working in the Merchant Mariner industry, helping deliver sailboats and powerboats around the Caribbean and piloting his own boats to many islands of the Bahamas.
A self-described “space nut in hibernation”, Christopher was drawn back to his lifelong fascination with spaceflight after watching one of the first Falcon 9 booster landings and then witnessing the first Falcon Heavy launch in person, with both side boosters returning safely to Kennedy Space Center. He has since traveled to NASA destinations for research, including the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and has toured Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal, where staff patiently answered his many research questions.
Christopher grew up in Southern Michigan, where he attended Jackson High School and Michigan State University. He moved to South Florida just before Hurricane Andrew and resides today in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he continues his search for anything space related.
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