The ISDC 2026 Morning Plenaries serve as the cornerstone of the conference, bringing together legendary astronauts, commercial leaders, and scientific visionaries to launch each day’s programming. All attendees are welcome to join these plenaries for an essential look at our future in space—from the rapid expansion of the cis-lunar economy and the untold history of the Space Shuttle program to the practical roadmap for establishing a permanent base on the Moon.
Captain Robert “Hoot” Gibson entered the United States Navy after college and served as a fighter pilot in the F-4 “Phantom” and F-14 “Tomcat” aircraft, flying combat missions in Southeast Asia and making more than 300 carrier landings aboard the aircraft carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Enterprise. After attending the Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as TOPGUN, and the Navy Test Pilot School, he served as a flight Read More
Commander Susan Kilrain is an astronaut, a navy test pilot, an aerospace engineer, and a world traveler. She was one of the first women selected to fly the F-14 Tomcat and the youngest person, and one of only three women, to pilot the space shuttle. She served twenty years in the Navy paving the way for women. She has flown more than 3,000 flight hours in more than thirty different Read More
Steven Hawley grew up under the dark skies of rural Kansas, where the dream of space travel seized him for a lifetime. Inspired by Astronaut Al Shepard’s first flight beyond the atmosphere, Hawley pursued academic degrees in astronomy, physics, and astrophysics, and later earned a seat in the “Thirty-Five New Guys,” NASA’s first class of astronaut candidates to include civilian scientists and engineers, women, and people of color. Dr. Hawley made history deploying Read More
Jim Green, now retired, was a scientist and senior advisor in the Office of the Chief Scientist at NASA. Prior to this appointment, he had been NASA’s Chief Scientist and was the longest serving director of the Planetary Science Division with the overall programmatic responsibility for the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto, the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, and the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, just to name Read More
Dr. Pascal Lee is a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, the Mars Institute, and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. He is also professor of planetary sciences at Kepler Space University, and chief scientist for Ceres Robotics, a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) industry provider. He also serves as the National Space Society’s Vice-President for Planetary Development. Dr. Lee holds an M.E. in geology from the Read More
For over three decades, Mr. Olson has been a business systems engineer and analyst in the Communications, Aerospace, and Publishing sectors. In addition, he spent several years in the Financial Services sector (cash and fund management). He served on the original organizing committee for the ’Space Investment Summits’, an event that brought together interested investors and space entrepreneurs for knowledge sharing and professional networking. From 2006-2010, he was a regular Read More
Following his Air Force career in fighter aircraft and the building of national brands for companies like Rockwell Avionics and Miller Brewing, Dr. Anthony Paustian created a technology-focused college campus that was named one of the nation’s most innovative organizations. The campus has received national media attention for its groundbreaking initiatives, ranging from advances in educational delivery systems to its inspiring Celebrate Innovation Live! (ciLive!) event. Dr. Paustian has authored Read More
Rod Pyle is an accomplished author, editor, and keynote speaker, renowned for his extensive work in space exploration and development. He has penned 18 influential books, with standout titles like "Space 2.0," "Interplanetary Robots," and "Heroes of the Space Age." His articles have enhanced the prestige of organizations like NASA/JPL and Caltech. Pyle holds a pivotal role as the Editor-in-Chief of "Ad Astra" magazine, the official publication of the National Read More
Dale Skran worked with Bell Labs (AT&T and Lucent Technologies) for seventeen years and continued his career in executive leadership at several other companies including Ascend Communications, Sonus Networks, and CMWare. He was also a rapporteur at the UN International Telecommunication Union where he led the development of international internet standards for video conferencing and voice-over IP (VOIP) services. Skran holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Read More
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