Day 2/3: Space Symposium

Day 2: I spent the day at the office getting everything wrapped up in order to dedicate myself to the cause. Now it is space time! The Space Symposium had talks (including one from the CEO of ULA), a opening ceremony, and sneak peeks at the booths. I was unable to attend but I know in my heart it was epic.

Day 3: It was epic. I loved the people, the energy, the technology, the free stuff. Everything. I had a very long day (over 12 hours) so I will be running through events with a follow up post soon.

I started off meeting Ron Sparkman within minutes of stepping off the bus. He is the man behind “Stardom Space” and one of the most well-connected space guys I know. If you don’t follow him on social media, I highly suggest following him right now or simply deleting your account altogether. I hope to be working with him in the future. Ron gave me some social media insight as well as his experience with Project PoSSUM. He has amazing energy and a unique perspective on the industry.

After making it inside, I began at home base: the Raytheon booth. I was able to talk to new faces, even in my own company. I then began my journey around the symposium floor. Many big names were there such as Lockheed Martin, ULA, and NASA. There were also smaller companies with very specific niches including HoneyBee Robotics, the company I interned for. They are very near and dear to my heart due to the two summers I spent with them. I can’t begin to discuss the vast number of people I met. I talked to military generals, students, CEOs, new engineers, and everyone in between from many different countries. I ran into people I haven’t seen since I was seven years old and talked to people from Yuri’s Night. And if you are one of the people I talked to and you found your way to my blog… hello! You get a shout out!

After walking around for hours with wide eyes, I found my way to the Moon to Mars Discussion Board. This was a particularly special way to hear about the new mindset now that Vice President Pence announced his ambitious 2024 Lunar Landing goal. With a diverse panel, many topics were covered including partnerships, general missions, and, my favorite, public involvement. This is what my follow up post will be on complete with a list of the panel members, an overview of the discussion and my thoughts! I got to hear so many ideas and so much excitement coming from industry leaders with dreams that only grew from their childhood imaginations. If there was one major take away from this discussion it was this: we are going to the moon in 2024.

Flash forward through more hours of walking around, shaking hands, and amazing conversations. I wound up at a networking event where I met yet another astronaut. Col. Jack D. Fischer was kind enough to come talk to me about his time in space. Naturally, the topic of the thin blue line came up (imagine that). Col. Fischer recounted the following experience to me: it was quick eight minute ride to reach the point of “space” where he was mesmerized by the thin blue line to the point where he forget about all the stuff they had to do as astronauts and his companion on the mission had to pull him back to reality. When he told me about that, my heart started beating faster and I got little goosebumps all over again. One day guys… one day.

The night ended with a much-needed party. AGI threw one of the biggest poker nights I have ever seen. It was the perfect amount of fun and networking as everyone seemed to breath just a little bit easier. I might have learned a few new tips for Black Jack so Vegas watch out!

I cannot reiterate enough how much got crammed into this day. This is just an overview of all the incredible conversations I had and fascinating concepts and technology I saw.

Thank you to everyone who made every second of today memorable. If I did meet you today, please feel free to comment with your favorite memory of the symposium!