Speakers: Jennifer Levasseur (Moderator, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum); Geoffrey Nunn (Museum of Flight), and Robert Pearlman

Speakers: Todd Mosher (Moderator, Univ. of Colorado); Ryan Landon (NASA Johnson Space Center), Brian Odom (NASA), and Michael Roberts (ISS National Lab)

Speakers: Teasel Muir-Harmony (Moderator, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum); Stephen Bowen (NASA), Jacob Keaton (NASA-ISS Division), and Gabriel Swiney (Office of Space Commerce)

Speaker: Paul Rosen (NASA); Charles Norton (JPL)

Speakers: Colin Hamill (Moderator, American Astronomical Society), Shawn Domagal-Goldman (NASA), Kristen McQuinn (Space Telescope Science Institute), and Nicole Duncan (BAE Systems)

Speakers: Mike French (Space Policy Group), and Dean Cheng (GWU)

Speakers: Antonino Salmeri (Moderator, Lunar Policy Platform); Alex Gilbert (Zeno Power), Hide Kamiya (ispace), David Reinecke (Department of State), and Raúl González-Muñoz (University of Leicester)

Speakers: John Troeltzsch (Moderator); Ronald Birk, Michael Johansen, Justin Kugler, and Ron Lopez

Speakers: Rob Meyerson (Moderator); John Conafay, Jonny Dyer, and Matt Shieh

Speakers: Harriet Brettle (Moderator); James Green, Jon Arenberg, Charles Norton, Evgenya Shkolnik, and Debbie Batson (Teledyne)

The von Kármán Lecture in Astronautics honors an individual who has performed notably and distinguished themselves technically in the field of astronautics.

Maruthi Akella, Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas (UT) Austin, discussed “Opinion Dynamics, Learning, Trust, and Control of Autonomous Space Systems.” His lecture showcased a framework for multithread learning designed to maintain spacecraft performance despite high uncertainty and fast variations. The approach builds on recently developed learning structures and trust metrics. Akella illustrated the framework through ISAM examples in spacecraft guidance and proximity operations.”

Speakers: Kevin Bell (Aerospace, Moderator); Todd Bascatiow (Leolabs), Mark Jeffries (Anduril), Adian Thompson (Slingshot Aerospace), and Justin Mikolay (Turion Space)

Speakers: A.C. Charania (Moderator); Joe Landon, Jericho Locke, and Charles Norton

Speakers: Brian Cameron (Moderator); Gillian Bussey (USSF), Steven Shepard (Vaxon Space), and Spence Wise (Redwire)

Speakers: Matthew Weinzierl (Harvard, moderator); Pat Mathewson (Astroscale), Mehak Sarang (Open Lunar Foundation), and Ely Sandler (Harvard)

Speakers: Laura Laucier (NASA, moderator); David Baumann (NASA), Brian O’Hagan (NASA), and Andres Martinez (NASA)

“To the Moon and beyond!” This was the rally cry at the conclusion of the Lockheed Martin panel discssion on Orion’s critical role in the historic Artemis II mission and the company’s acceleration efforts for future missions moving forward.

The panel discussed how Lockheed Martin is committed to delivering Orion more affordably and more often under NASA’s new launch cadence. Topics included the success of Artemis II, Orion’s schedule for Artemis III, IV and V, their vision for the future of Orion, deep space transportation and NASA’s Ignition efforts and technology development for NASA’s Artemis Moon Base.

On December 24, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully completed a record-breaking flyby of the Sun, coming closer than any human-made object ever has.

The team that enabled this amazing mission – the Johns Hopkins APL Parker Solar Probe Team – received the 2026 AIAA Space Systems Award during ASCEND 2026, 20 May, Washington, DC.

Mark J. Lewis, President and CEO, Purdue Applied Research Institute, received the 2026 AIAA Distinguished Service Award during ASCEND 2026, 20 May, in Washington, DC.

Mark has been active in AIAA for over 40 years. He has served on several Technical and Management Committees. And Mark is an AIAA Honorary Fellow and Past President of AIAA.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman addressed the opening session of ASCEND 2026 on Tuesday, 19 May, in Washington, DC.

Tory Bruno led ULA during a time to transform the company to compete on a global commercial environment. Under his leadership, ULA also began develping a new next-generation rocket, purpose-built to maintain the accurate delivery of the U.S. government’s most complex mission.

Bruno delivered his 2026 AIAA David W. Thompson Lecture in Space Commerce entitled “Transforming ULA: Shaping the Future of Space Launch,” on 19 May at ASCEND 2026 in Washington, DC.

AIAA CEO Clay Mowry welcomed the standing room only crowd to ASCEND 2026 on Tuesday, 19 May, in Washington, DC.