World Leaders in Space Exploration Meet at Caltech

WHAT: The California Institute of Technology, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Northrop Grumman are sponsoring "50 Years in Space: An International Aerospace Conference Celebrating 50 Years of Space Technology."

WHEN: Sept. 20 and 21

WHERE: Beckman Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Avenue, at Caltech in Pasadena.

WHO: Speakers include NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson, Northrop Grumman president Alexis Livanos, JPL director Charles Elachi, European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, President of Centre National d'Études Spatiales Yannick d'Escatha, Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science Masato Nakamura, the 11th president of India and aeronautical engineer A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, James Webb Space Telescope senior project scientist John C. Mather, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, founder of Scaled Composites Burt Rutan, and undersecretary, U.S. Air Force, and the Defense Department's executive agent for space Ronald Sega.

BACKGROUND: The launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, began the space age. Within weeks, the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation formed Space Technology Laboratories (STL), with Caltech alumnus Simon Ramo. STL became TRW Inc. and then Northrop Grumman. In 1958, the JPL-built Explorer 1 put the U.S. in the space race, followed soon thereafter by the TRW-built Pioneer 1, the first spacecraft launched by NASA.

VISUALS: In addition to speakers in Beckman Auditorium, large replicas of spacecrafts, rovers, and satellites will be displayed outdoors.

CONFERENCE WEB SITE: http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/space50/

PRESS RELEASE: http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13017.html

MEDIA: Registration for the public is closed. Members of the media can attend at no cost. Media should contact Jill Perry, Caltech media relations, to register, (626) 395-3226, jperry@caltech.edu. ###