2015 Event
The first SpaceUp Phoenix was held on March 7, 2015 and went went
really well, with great speakers and over 60 attendees! I think
everyone had a really good time! The 2015 speakers included:
Jim Bell (keynote speaker)
Jim Bell is a planetary scientist, educator, author, public speaker,
and is President of The Planetary Society. He works at Arizona State
University and is heavily involved in NASA solar system exploration
missions like those of the Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity, and
Curiosity. In 2011 he received the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence
in Public Communication from the American Astronomical Society. He
is an avid writer for space-related magazines and blogs, and often
appears in media interviews on space-related topics
Dr. Peter Swan
Pete Swan is the president of the International Space Elevator
Consortium (ISEC). He was co-author/editor of the recent book: Space
Elevators: An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and Way
Forward.
For more info, see the ISEC website here: www.isec.com
Charles Walker
Charlie was a commercial astronaut for McDonnell Douglas on three
Space Shuttle flights in the 1980s and served as President of the
National Space Society for many years. He is now retired and lives
in Arizona.
Henry Vanderbilt
Henry is president of the Space Access Society and has been hosting
the Space Access Conference in the Phoenix area for over 20 years.
His passion is helping promote the private enterprise movement to
reduce the cost of space launch vehicles.
Dr. Jekan Thanga
Jekan is an assistant professor at ASU’s Space and Terrestrial
Robotic Exploration (SpaceTREx) Laboratory in 2015. He is in the
lead engineer on the Asteroid Origins cubesat program being
developed there.
Rich Christiansen
Rich has a long history with NASA and the space program. He was the
Vice President of Sierra Lobo, an aerospace technology firm, and he
was once the Deputy Director of the NASA Glenn Research Center.
Eileen Kane
Eileen is an advocate of citizen science and hosts regular science
cafes at the Gangplank workspace in Chandler.
This page updated 11/27/21
