THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST SPECTACULAR ASTRONOMY & SPACE EXPO
THE
SPEAKERS
NEAF searches the world to bring you the astronomers, researchers, scientists, and personalities that are making science history today.
No where else will you find such an extensive caliber of talent brought together in one place.
Hoot Gibson
Veteran NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut
ROBERT LEE "HOOT" GIBSON (Capt, USN, Ret.),
is a naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. A retired NASA astronaut, he also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1992 to 1994. Today Gibson is active as a professional pilot, racing regularly at the annual Reno Air Races. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013, and has received several military decorations throughout his career.
Selected by NASA in January 1978, Gibson became an astronaut in August 1979. Gibson flew five missions: STS-41-B in 1984, STS-61-C in 1986, STS-27 in 1988, STS-47 in 1992, and STS-71 in 1995. Gibson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992 to September 1994) and as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March–November 1996).
On his last flight, (June 27 to July 7, 1995), Gibson commanded a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. When the hatch separating the two modules was opened, Gibson and Vladimir Dezhurov shook hands, symbolizing the newly-found cooperation between the United States of America and the Russian Federation. Later that day, President Bill Clinton in a statement mentioned that this handshake was a major breakthrough towards the ending of the Cold War.
Eileen Collins
First female Space Shuttle pilot and Commander
EILEEN COLLINS was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She is a retired NASA astronaut and United States Air Force colonel and a former military instructor and test pilot. She was awarded several medals for her work. Colonel Collins has logged 38 days 8 hours and 20 minutes in outer space. Collins retired on May 1, 2006, to pursue private interests, including service as a board member of USAA.
Eileen Collins was an aviation pioneer her entire career, from her crowning achievements as the first woman to command an American space mission as well as the first to pilot the space shuttle to her early years as one of the Air Force's first female pilots. She was in the first class of women to earn pilot's wings at Vance Air Force Base and was their first female instructor pilot. She was only the second woman admitted to the Air Force's elite Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base.
NASA had such confidence in her skills as a leader and pilot that she was entrusted to command the first shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster, returning the US to spaceflight after a two-year hiatus. Since retiring from the Air Force and NASA, she has served on numerous corporate boards and is an inspirational speaker about space
exploration and leadership
Gerry Griffin
Fmr. Director of NASA Space Flight Center
In October of 1957, almost sixty-six years ago, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into low-earth orbit. Since that time nations around the world have sent into space all kinds of automated payloads as well as humans (and sometimes both together). Question: why have they done this? Answer: in order to learn and do things worthwhile in the “now accessible” environment beyond earth’s atmosphere... some looking for worthwhile and peaceful purposes, some others for different reasons. Gerry will take a look at what is going on today in space, both government and commercial activities. With the past and current space activities set as the foundation. Mr. Griffin will review what we are going to do in the near-term exciting future, and what is planned for the long-range future.
GERRY GRIFFIN served as a flight director during the Apollo program and director of Johnson Space Center, succeeding Chris Kraft in 1982. In 1964 Griffin joined NASA in Houston as a flight controller in Mission Control, specializing in guidance, navigation and control systems during Project Gemini. In 1968 he was named a Mission Control flight director and served in that role for all of the Apollo Program manned missions including all manned missions to the Moon
Tom Mulder
TOM MULDER is a Technical Fellow for the Boeing Office in Houston, Texas. During his 35-year career, Tom specialized in GN&C, mission design, and rendezvous for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), Commercial Crew, and dozens of Boeing concept spacecraft. Tom designed the architecture behind CST-100 Starliner autonomous flight and requirements for guiding the vehicle during ISS rendezvous, departure, and deorbit. Previously, Tom was Chief Engineer for a Boeing team that developed autonomous rendezvous technologies for advanced projects, including DARPA’s Orbital Express Program. Tom graduated with an Aerospace Engineering Degree from Iowa State University. Among his commendations are the Astronaut Office Silver Snoopy Award and Rotary Club Stellar Individual Award. Development of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft began in 2009 as a Space Shuttle replacement for crew and cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). Vehicle design matured rapidly since award of a NASA contract in September 2014, leading to test flights later this year and operational missions beginning in 2019.
Boeing CST Starliner, Navigation, Control, & Mission Designer
Boeing CST-100 Starliner
Bob Pappalardo
Europa Clipper Mission Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Europa Clipper Mission
Europa Clipper is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed study of Jupiter's moon Europa. There’s scientific evidence that the ingredients for life may exist on Europa right now. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km) to reach Jupiter in April 2030. It will orbit Jupiter, and conduct 49 close flybys of Europa.
ROBERT (BOB) PAPPALARDO is the Europa Clipper Mission Project Scientist and formerly Cassini Project Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is a JPL Fellow, and Senior Research Scientist in the Planetary Science Section, Science Division. Born and raised in New York, he received his B.A. in Geological Sciences from Cornell University in 1986, and in 1994 he obtained his Ph. D. in Geology from Arizona State University. The completion of his graduate work was fortunately timed, as planning for the Galileo spacecraft's upcoming satellite encounters was just beginning. He worked with Greeley on the initial plans for Galileo's imaging of Jupiter's moon Europa. He then moved on to Brown University as a post-doctoral researcher working as a Galileo imaging team member. At Brown, he helped plan all of the imaging observations for the Ganymede encounters by Galileo from G1 in 1996 through G29 in 2000, and several of the intervening Europa encounters.
Sara Seager
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Searching for Life Beyond Earth
SARA SEAGER is the recipient of the 2024 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. Seager is recognized for discoveries of exoplanets and the characterization of their atmospheres. She has pioneered methods for the detection of atomic species in planetary atmospheres and the measurement of their thermal infrared emission, setting the stage for finding the molecular fingerprints of atmospheres around both giant and rocky planets. Their contributions have been key to the enormous progress seen in the last 20 years in the exploration of myriad exoplanets.
Sara held a postdoctoral research fellow position at the Institute for Advanced Study between 1999 and 2002 and a senior research staff member at the Carnegie Institution of Washington until 2006. She joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2007.
NASA's Planet Quest referred to her as "an astronomical Indiana Jones". Seager was awarded the 2012 Sackler Prize for "analysis of the atmospheres and internal compositions of extra-solar planets", the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2007 for developing "fundamental techniques for understanding, analyzing, and finding the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, and the 2004 Harvard Bok Prize in Astronomy. She was appointed as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement
of Science in 2012.
Research Scientist, Princeton University
Voyager - 45 years
jamie Rankin PhD
Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager probes are NASA’s longest-operating mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space.
NASA’s twin Voyager probes each carry an eight-track tape player for recording data, they have about 3 million times less memory than modern cellphones, and they transmit data about 38,000 times slower than a 5G internet connection. Yet the Voyagers remain on the cutting edge of space exploration. Managed and operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, they are the only probes to ever explore interstellar space.
JAMIE SUE RANKIN is a research scientist interested in energetic particle and plasma heliophysics. She received her B.A. in Music Composition and B.S. in Physics at the University of Utah. She developed sound-to-electricity transducers for thermoacoustic heat engines with the Center of Acoustic Cooling Technology and modeled radar detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray air showers with the Telescope Array Project. She completed her Ph.D. in Physics at Caltech in 2018. For her thesis work, Jamie investigated and characterized an unusual galactic cosmic ray pitch angle anisotropy discovered by Voyager 1 in the local interstellar medium. As an experimentalist in the Caltech Space Radiation Laboratory, she also characterized prototype, engineering, and spaceflight detectors for the high energy particle instrument (EPI-Hi) on the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (IS☉IS) for NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission(Link is external). At Princeton, she is using both Voyager(Link is external) and IBEX observations to investigate interactions between the heliosphere and the local interstellar medium, as well as analyzing PSP observations.
Hosted by Joe Rao
JOE RAO is the eight-time Emmy nominated meteorologist and on air personality. In addition to his on-air fame, Joe is also an avid amateur astronomer. He has co-lead several eclipse expeditions and served as an on-board meteorologist for three eclipse cruises. He is also an Associate and Guest Lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium, a Contributing Editor for S&T magazine and also writes for Space.com, Natural History magazine, and the Farmers’ Almanac.
and Vince Coulehan
VINCE COULEHAN takes center stage as your NEAF Talks Master of Ceremonies. Vince is an avid astro-imager and has been chasing the world for over five decades as an amateur astronomer to witness, now nine total solar eclipses. He is an active member with the AAVSO as well as a key NEAF organizer and a primary board member at Rockland Astronomy. He has been active with outreach to bring astronomy and observing to students at high schools and elementary schools for over 20 years. Vincent has an ME in Mechanical Engineering from Manhattan College.