Updated: August 20, 2026

John Robinson was the fifth child of a lower income family. His high intelligence, good looks and athletic ability helped him to overcome his economic hardships.

In school, John was always at the head of his class academically. He also shone on the football field, becoming the youngest quarterback ever at East Side High School during his sophomore year.

Academics remained his primary interest, however, despite several lucrative offers from colleges that wanted him to play on their football teams. By working part-time and obtaining academic scholarships, John was able to enroll at the California Institute of Technology ( CIT ) in 1976. The school offered a combined degree program in Astrophysics and Planetary Geological Sciences, which combined his keen interests in space and geology.

Although popular, John had never dated much. While at CIT, though, he met a beautiful and brilliant student named Maureen Tomlinson. Despite hectic schedules, the two found time to be together and were soon virtually inseparable. During the summer break after their first year in college, they were married on June 10, 1977. Maureen's sister, Colleen, invited them to live with her in Los Angeles while they finished college, and they did so for the next four years.

John decided to stay for a fifth year at CIT in order to earn his Master's degree in Astrophysics and Applied Planetary Geology. He graduated with honors in 1981. His first job was as an instructor of Astrophysics at the University of Taos ( New Mexico ). While working there, he continued his education and received a doctorate in 1985. He won a number of awards while at the school for outstanding teaching ability and leadership, including the prestigious Zane Morris award.

While all of this was going on, the Robinson family was growing. Daughter Judy was born on July 18, 1994. The Robinsons moved to their own home near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Penny was born on October 23, 2001, and Will was born on May 3, 2005.

After seven years of teaching, John was restless. When Alpha Control offered him the opportunity to work on a new joint program with the university to study the adaptability of humans to life on alien planets, he immediately accepted, although it did mean that he had to spend some time in Houston, Texas, where Alpha Control was building a gigantic scientific and training facility. During his tenure at Alpha Control, John met Doctor Zachary Smith, a member of the United States Space Corps ( But never got fully acquainted with the doctor until the Jupiter-2 mission ).

John ( Known as "Professor Robinson" at Alpha Control ) was soon deeply involved in the program to develop the Deep Thrust Telescopic Probe series of interstellar spacecraft. These ships were launched in December 1988, and showed definitively that Alpha Centauri had two planets, Delta and Gamma, capable of supporting human life. One of them, Gamma, was found to be ideal for colonization.

John was next given a position with Alpha Control's Colonization Studies Division. His enthusiasm for the colonization program rubbed off on Maureen. Despite misgivings about the dangers of space flight, she eventually agreed with John to volunteer the family for the first colonization mission.

Alpha Control announced in February 1993 that it would begin taking applications from families for the Jupiter-2 mission. Four months later, it was announced that the Robinsons would be the first family in space. They spent the next four summers training for the mission, and left Earth on October 16, 1997.