Economically vibrant communities beyond Earth will require solid foundations built on permanent sustainable infrastructure. This webinar will begin with a long view update of NASA’s human space efforts, including Artemis, with NASA’s Kathy Lueders. Ms. Lueders will then join an expert panel to explore policies that may be appropriate to accelerate the development of in-space infrastructure leading to the establishment of permanent human communities in space.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations, NASA
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine selected Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders to be the agency’s next associate administrator of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate on June 12, 2020. Since 2014, Lueders has directed NASA’s efforts to send astronauts to space on private spacecraft, which culminated in the successful launch of Demo-2 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30.
Lueders began her NASA career in 1992 at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where she was the Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control Systems Depot manager. She later moved to the International Space Station Program and served as transportation integration manager, where she led commercial cargo resupply services to the space station.
She also was responsible for NASA oversight of international partner spacecraft visiting the space station, including the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. She went to Kennedy as acting Commercial Crew Program Manager in 2013 and was selected as the head of the office in 2014.
Lueders has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University.
Dr. Janet L. Kavandi, Executive Vice President, Space Systems, Sierra Nevada Corporation and former NASA astronaut
Dr. Janet L. Kavandi serves as Executive Vice President in the Space Systems Group at Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) in Louisville, Colorado. There, she is responsible for the company’s space programs, including the Dream Chaser® spaceplane, which is under contract to deliver supplies to the International Space Station beginning in 2021. Dream Chaser is a winged vehicle and the only resupply vehicle capable of landing on a commercial runway.
Prior to her current position, Dr. Kavandi served as Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. In this position, she was responsible for planning, organizing and directing the activities required for cutting-edge research on aerospace and aeronautical propulsion, power, and communication technologies. Previous to accepting the Director position, Dr. Kavandi served as Glenn’s Deputy Director.
Before her time at Glenn, Dr. Kavandi worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where she served as the Director of Flight Crew Operations. In this role, she was responsible for the Astronaut Corps and Aircraft Operations at Ellington Field. Dr. Kavandi also served as the Deputy Director of the Health and Human Performance Directorate, where she was responsible for the NASA flight surgeons and human research investigations on the International Space Station (ISS).
Dr. Kavandi was selected as a NASA astronaut in December 1994 as a member of the fifteenth class of U.S. astronauts. During her time in the Astronaut Office, she supported International Space Station payload integration, capsule communications, robotics and served as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. She is a veteran of three space flights, serving as a mission specialist on STS-91 in 1998, STS-99 in 2000 and STS-104 in 2001. Dr. Kavandi has logged more than 33 days in space, traveling more than 13.1 million miles in 535 Earth orbits.
Born in Springfield, Missouri, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, a Master of Science degree in chemistry from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, and her Doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dr. Kavandi has been recognized with two Presidential Rank Awards, two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, two Exceptional Service Medals, three NASA Space Flight Medals, and NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal. Dr. Kavandi and her husband, John, have two adult children.
Matt Ondler, Chief Technology Officer, Axiom Space
Mr. Ondler has 35 years of experience in engineering, management and leadership in both government and industry. He is formerly the President/CEO and co-founder of Houston Mechatronics Inc. (HMI), a fast-growing robotics and intelligent automation company developing and commercializing a host of robotic technologies and applications. HMI grew from a three-person start-up to seventy-five engineering staff and a valuation of $60M under his leadership.
Mr. Ondler served 28 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the Johnson Space Center. Mr. Ondler departed NASA as the Assistant Director of Engineering responsible for all Advanced Exploration Systems Development totaling $200M in project budgets. While at NASA he was the recipient of NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and Exceptional Achievement Medal.
After departing NASA and prior to forming HMI, Mr. Ondler served as a senior executive at Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, a $600M/yr engineering services company, performing business development, strategic planning, program management, and led corporate innovation initiatives.
Laura Montgomery, Adjunct Professor at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and specialist in regulatory space law at Ground Based Space Matters
Laura Montgomery teaches space law at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. In her private practice through Ground Based Space Matters she specializes in regulatory space law, with an emphasis on commercial space transportation and the Outer Space Treaties. She provides expert opinion on the Commercial Space Launch Act, its implementing regulations governing the launch of launch vehicles, the reentry of reentry vehicles, the operation of launch and reentry sites, and the financial responsibility and liability requirements of those regulations. She has testified to the space subcommittees of both the House and Senate, including, most recently in the summer of 2019. Laura Montgomery spent over two decades with the Federal Aviation Administration. She served as the manager of the Space Law Branch in the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel. Before that, she was the FAA’s Senior Attorney for Commercial Space Transportation. She has published articles on the Outer Space Treaty, human space flight, and launch safety. She also writes science fiction, some of which is bourgeois, legal science fiction.
PROGRAM
Introduction
Steve Wolfe, Beyond Earth President and Co-Founder and Deputy Executive Director of SpaceCom and the Global Spaceport Alliance
Keynote Address
Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations, NASA
Panel Discussion
Tom Marotta, Beyond Earth Co-Founder and Policy Program Manager at the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, FAA – Moderator
Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations, NASA
Dr. Janet L. Kavandi, Executive Vice President, Space Systems, Sierra Nevada Corporation and former NASA astronaut
Matt Ondler, Chief Technology Officer, Axiom Space
Laura Montgomery, Adjunct Professor at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and specialist in regulatory space law at Ground Based Space Matters
