[6] Garver was the lead civil space policy advisor for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and led the agency review team for NASA during the post-election transition.

While working for Senator John Glenn from 1983–1984 she became interested in space, and went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in science, technology and public policy from the George Washington University in 1989.

Garver served as a lead space policy advisor for the Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry campaigns for president.

[21][22][23] In 2016 Garver founded the Brooke Owens Fellowship,[24] which offers paid summer internships to college undergraduate women planning to pursue aviation or space careers.

[7] In June 2010, she addressed the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and signed an earth science satellite agreement.

[28] In May 2011, she joined NASA scientists to participate in a field campaign studying how dust affects the snow cover in the Colorado River Basin.

In the book, Garver focuses on the agency's attempts to launch commercial cargo and crew capabilities to the International Space Station.