Stephen Horan grew up in the Philadelphia area and attended Franklin & Marshall College (BA in physics/astronomy) in Lancaster. He attended graduate school at New Mexico State University (MS in astronomy, MS in electrical engineering, PhD in electrical engineering) in Las Cruces. After graduation, he supported NASA's space communications efforts before returning to academia on the electrical engineering faculty of NMSU. At NMSU, he worked on research dealing with space networking, radio propagation, small satellite development, and STEM educational development. He retired as professor and department head to join NASA at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Currently, he works on technology development for NASA.During his career, he has received awards for teaching and research activities at NMSU, team awards for NASA projects, and the International Telemetering Foundation's "Pioneer Award."Steve holds the Extra Class amateur radio license NM4SH.

He also enjoys digital photography, amateur astronomy, and playing guitar for his church choir.