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Thursday, April 21, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST

It’s a new era in human spaceflight! Opportunities for private individuals to fly to space are increasing and doors are opening. Join us as we meet with Tom Shelley, the President of Space Adventures, Nicholas Patrick, former NASA astronaut and Blue Origin Flight Director, and Laura Forczyk, author of Becoming Off-Worldly, to explore these new opportunities and how you can prepare for your ride to space. PROGRAM Panel Discussion Laura Forczyk, Author, Becoming Off-Worldly – Moderator Dr. Nicholas Patrick, Senior Director of Human Integration & New Shepard Flight Director, Blue Origin (and former NASA astronaut) Tom Shelley, President, Space Adventures

FEATURED SPEAKERS with BIOS

Laura Forczyk is Beyond Earth’s VP of Research and Analytics and the owner of space consulting firm Astralytical – specializing in space science, industry, and policy, and offering space career coaching services. She is a NASA Subject Matter Expert for planetary science missions, serves as a mentor for the Brooke Owens Fellowship program, and has authored two books: Becoming Off-Worldly and Rise of the Space Age Millennials. Laura ran the Florida office of an international startup working to establish parabolic and suborbital flight at Kennedy Space Center and globally. She has also researched astrophysics and planetary science at three NASA centers, flown two parabolic “Zero G” campaigns, conducted geological research in a meteor crater, and earned National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) suborbital astronaut wings in ground training. Laura has earned a BS in astrophysics from Florida Institute of Technology, an MS in astrophysics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and has also conducted doctoral studies in planetary science at the University of Central Florida.   Dr. Nicholas Patrick is the Senior Director of Human Integration at Blue Origin, where his responsibilities include definition of the user interfaces for spacecraft operations and requirements for the comfort and safety of astronauts onboard Blue Origin spacecraft. In this role, he helped develop New Shepard’s spaceflight experience and astronaut training.  Dr. Patrick has been on the New Shepard mission control team for every flight to date, and has been a certified Flight Director since March 2020, most recently serving as lead Flight Director for Mission NS-20. Prior to joining Blue Origin, Dr. Patrick was an astronaut at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and flew as a mission specialist on two space-station construction shuttle missions: STS-116 on Discovery in 2006 and STS-130 on Endeavour in 2010. During STS-130, Dr. Patrick performed three spacewalks to complete the installation of the ISS’s Node 3 and the Cupola windows. Dr. Patrick was born in the UK. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautical engineering from the University of Cambridge in England, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT. Dr. Patrick holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, with 2600 hours of flight time in airplanes and helicopters, including over 1000 hours as a flight instructor.  He is type rated in the Airbus A320.