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ISDC 2006 Speakers

Confirmed Featured Speakers and Special Guests



Buzz Aldrin

Lunar module pilot for Apollo 11 and former Chairman of the NSS Board of Governors


Burt Rutan

President of Scaled Composites and designer of SpaceShipOne




Shana Dale

Deputy Administrator, NASA




Charles Elachi
Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and VP of the California Inst. of Tech.




Dennis Tito
The first space tourist. Tito spent a week at the International Space Station



Elon Musk

President, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation;
Founder, PayPal




Neil deGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist, Author,
Director of
Hayden Planetarium



Brian Chase

Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs, NASA




Bill Nye
The Science Guy.  Scientist, engineer, communicator, comedian, and author



Robert Manning
Flight System Chief Engineer
 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA



Gregory Olsen
The worlds third spaceflight participant on a 10 day mission to the International Space Station



Pascal Lee, Ph.D.
 Mars Institute, SETI Institute & NASA Ames Research Center


      Peter Diamandis
Founder, X PRIZE Foundation; Zero Gravity Corporation; Rocket Racing League, ISU



Robert  L. Curbeam, Jr.

 NASA Astronaut and Safety Branch Chief


 
Chris McKay
Planetary scientist and Astrobiology researcher at NASA Ames Research Center


Hugh Downs
Chairman of the NSS Board of Governors and legendary broadcaster and author


Rusty Schweickart

Lunar module pilot for Apollo 9 and Chairman, B612 Foundation


Rick Homans
New Mexico's Secretary of Economic Development; Leader in formation of NM Spaceport

Bruce Murray
Professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology, Founder of The Planetary Society



Louis D. Friedman
Executive Director, Founder of The Planetary Society


George T. Whitesides
 Executive Director of the National Space Society



William "Red" Whittaker

Professor of Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University


Eric Anderson
President and CEO of Space Adventures, Ltd.



General Simon 'Pete' Worden
 
Director, NASA Ames 



Art Stephenson
Sector Vice President, Space Exploration Systems, Northrop Grumman





Art Dula
 
Pioneering Space Lawyer, Heinlein Prize Trust Trustee




Dr. Slava G. Turyshev
   Astrophysics and Gravitation Research Group, NASA, JPL



Michael Okuda
Member of the technical and artistic team for the Star Trek movie and television series and the author of numerous publications on the Star Trek phenomenon


Don Yeomans
Senior Research Scientist, Supervisor for the Solar System Dynamics Group, and Manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office


Seth Shostak

SETI Institute Senior Astronomer and author of several books on extraterrestrial life

John Mankins
Former Manager of Advance Concepts Studies for
NASA and author of several books on Space Solar Power

G. Scott Hubbard
Former Director of NASA Ames Research Center; Carl Sagan Chair at the SETI Institute



Hildreth (Hal) Walker Jr.
Board Chairman African-American Male Achievers Network, Inc. International Science Discovery and Learning Center



Dr. Augustine O. Esogbue
Professor Georgia Institute of Technology and member of The National Society of Black Engineers Advisory Board



Rick N. Tumlinson
Co-Founder of Space Frontier Foundation
Author of “Return To The Moon”


Lori Garver

Former Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans at NASA



David Brody
Director of Multimedia
 Imaginova Corporation



Anthony Duignan-Cabrera
Managing Editor Space.com and Editor of Ad Astra



Tim Pickens  
 
President of Orion Propulsion,
former X Prize team leader


Robert Zubrin

President of the Mars Society



Rocky Persaud
President IPX Entertainment and Founder of the first Zero Gravity  sports league



Jerry Heneghan

CEO of Virtual Heroes and Executive Producer, America's Army Game Project



Will Whitehorn
President, Virgin Galactic



Alex Tai

 Director of Operations, Virgin Galactic



Stephen Attenborough
 VP of Astronaut Relations, Virgin Galactic



Noah McMahon
Chief Marketing Officer
Zero Gravity Corporation



Rick Searfoss
Space Shuttle Commander, XCOR test pilot, and Rocket Racing League inaugural pilot




Kathleen Allen
Director of the USC Marshall Center for Technology Commercialization




Patricia Grace Smith
 Associate Administrator for Commercial Space  Transportation


 

Bob Pappalardo

 University of Colorado Planetary Scientist, Europa specialist



Alexandra “Alex” Barnett
Executive Director and CEO of the Chabot Space and Science Center



  Klaus Heiss
Space Consultant and Economist



John Spencer
President, Space Tourism Society



Barbara Marx Hubbard
  Social innovator, futurist and President of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution



Angela Diaz

Acting Assistant Administrator for Education, NASA




Rick Sternbach
A space illustrator of books, magazines, movies, television including the Star Trek television series



Bradley C. Edwards Ph.D.

Physicist and lead developer of the Space Elevator concept



Guillermo Söhnlein
Entrepreneur with experience in space, technology, education, and law

Michael Simpson
President of the International Space University


John Connolly
Manager, Lunar Lander Pre-Project, NASA




John Elbon
Vice President and Program Manager, Constellation, Boeing





Narendra Bhandari
 Planetary Scientist, President
 International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG)



Ed Stone
 Former JPL Director, Voyager Project Scientist, Voyager Interstellar Mission



Carl Mack
Executive Director of The National Society of Black Engineers