A West Point graduate (third in his class) and decorated Korean War fighter pilot, Buzz Aldrin joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1963 after earning his Doctorate of Science from MIT with a thesis on Orbital Rendezvous. He set a record 5 ½ hour spacewalk when he flew the last Gemini mission with Jim Lovell. On July 20, 1969 Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first two human beings to set foot on the moon as the world's largest television viewing audience watched this unprecedented endeavor.

Since retiring from NASA and the Air Force, he has worked on his concepts for the future of space flight such as the Aldrin "Mars Cycler" system of transportation between Earth and Mars. He founded the rocket design company, Starcraft Boosters Inc. in 1996 and has received U.S. patents for his Cubo-octahedron Space Station design and his Multiple Crew Module Spacecraft concept.

His greatest passion is to "share space" and as Chairman of his nonprofit, ShareSpace Foundation, he is forwarding its mission to educate and prepare the public for space travel. ShareSpace is currently working on bringing the reality of actual trips into space to a broader base of participants through a prize-based sweepstakes or lottery program. Dr. Aldrin has authored six books, including a historical space documentary, two space novels, and his current best-selling children's book, Reaching for the Moon. He continues to explore the Earth, and has participated in expeditions to the North Pole via a Russian Icebreaker and down to the Titanic in a French submersible. Buzz and Lois Driggs Aldrin (his wife and business partner of 20 years) enjoy traveling the world for speaking appearances, as well as winter skiing and ocean scuba diving.

On Sept. 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari blasted off from Kazakhstan on board a Russian Soyuz capsule to become the first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first private female space explorer and the fourth person to buy a ticket to space through the Space Adventures program. After two days orbiting the Earth, Ansari and her fellow crewmembers docked with the International Space Station. She spent the next eight days on board as an active member of the crew.

An active proponent of world-changing technologies, Ansari has been immersed in the space industry for years. She rallied her family to provide the title sponsorship for the Ansari X PRIZE. This $10 million prize became the catalyst for a new era in private space travel. The prize was awarded to Burt Rutan in 2004 for the first non-governmental launch of a reusable manned spacecraft into space. Ansari is a successful entrepreneur who now serves as chairman and co-founder of Prodea Systems (www.prodeasystems.com), a company providing a solution that will help consumers realize the full potential of their digital homes. In addition, Ansari actively pursues ways to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally.

For more information, visit www.anoushehansari.com.

Greg Olsen was the third private citizen to orbit the earth on the International Space Station (ISS). After training for five months (900 hours) at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, he launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket TMA-7 on October 1, 2005 with Cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev and Astronaut Bill McArthur (Expedition 12). He also did a few G profile training sequences at the NASTAR Center. He then docked to the ISS on October 3, and returned to earth on Soyuz TMA-6 on October 11 with Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Astronaut John Phillips (Expedition 11). He performed more than 150 orbits of the earth and logged almost 4 million miles of weightless travel during his 10 days in space.

After an illustrious career as a research scientist and entrepreneur, Greg is now president of GHO Ventures in Princeton, NJ where he manages his “angel” investments, South African winery, Montana ranch, and performs numerous speaking engagements to encourage children — especially minorities and females — to consider careers in science and engineering. He is active in the New Jersey Technology Counsel (NJTC), NJTC Venture Fund, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the NJ Commission on Science and Technology.

For more information, visit www.ghoventures.com.

Dan Barry is a former astronaut who currently spends his time building robots for his own company, Denbar Robotics. Dr Barry's work and research has been supported by the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Grass Foundation and the American Heart Association of Michigan. He has five patents and has had over 50 articles published in scientific journals.

In 1992, Dr. Barry was selected by NASA to train at the Johnson Space Center. He completed one year of training and qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews. A veteran of three space flights, Dr. Barry has logged over 734 hours in space, including four space walks. He retired from NASA in April, 2005.

For his work and accomplishments, Dr. Barry has received numerous special honors and awards over the years, including the 1971 McMullen Engineering Award, the 1984 Young Investigator Award from the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine, the Vladimir Komarov Diploma from Federation Aeronautique Internationale in 1998, inclusion in the list of 100 Most Notable Princeton Graduate School Alumni of the 20th Century in 2001, and the Paul J. Corcoran Award from Harvard Medical School.