Commander Terry Virts was a test pilot in the US Air Force and a NASA astronaut. He flew to space twice as pilot of the Shuttle Endeavor on STS-130 and again on the Soyuz during Exp 42/43 to the the International Space Station (ISS) where he spent over 200 days in orbit. Sometimes, a little distance is all you need to see things in a brand new way. For Terry, his newfound perspective from the ISS, where he installed the Cupola module, granted an unprecedented 360-degree view from the station. He made good use of the Cupola, taking more photographs than any astronaut who came before him. Many of those images were used in his new National Geographic book "View From Above" and IMAX film A Beautiful Planet. He is one of only four astronauts ever to pilot the shuttle, fly on a Soyuz, conduct spacewalks and Command the ISS. Terry was a festival speaker at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Ideas Weekend, where he delivered a talk with Andrew Aldrin and Alia Al Mansoori on the prospects of living on Mars.

Dr. Andrew Aldrin is Director of the Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Institute of Technology. ASI is a multidisciplinary institute created to advance commercial space development. Prior to FIT, Dr. Aldrin was President of Moon Express, responsible for day to day operations for the company. Dr Aldrin also held executive positions in more traditional aerospace industry, serving as Director of Business Development and Advanced Programs at United Launch Alliance where he oversaw development of corporate strategies, business capture, senior customer relations and advanced program development for civil space markets. Before ULA, Dr. Aldrin headed Business Development and Advanced Programs for Boeing’s NASA Systems, and Launch Services business units. He has also served on the professional research staff of the RAND Corporation and the Institute for Defense Analyses.