About Rick Sternbach
Richard Michael Sternbach is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the Star Trek television series. In January 1987, Sternbach was hired along with Andrew Probert (the first two art department hires) to start design work for a new Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. After leaving University, he became an illustrator for books and magazines, with his first cover illustration published on the October 1973 issue of Analog magazine. For his work on the episode The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean he won the 1980-1981 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Creative Technical Craft. Sternbach became a friend of science fiction writer Greg Bear, after his illustration of "A Martian Ricorso" featured in the cover of the February 1976 issue of Analog.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.