By the time I joined NASA in 1983, the US had launched the shuttle program, with astronauts orbiting Earth and later visiting the International Space Station. The space race was over, and global cooperation was the new trend. With the end of Apollo came the end of the frenzied excitement that glued the world to television screens in every country. I joined NASA two weeks before Sally Ride’s historic flight, STS-7, which ushered in a new climate of gender equality to the agency.

I'm extremely happy with both presentations at ISDC 2024, and thrilled to have the recorded versions to post on YouTube, to document this momentous occasion in space history. I was consistently surprised to discover, and then validate, that no one beat us to it. It seems so obvious and simple, and I still can't understand how it could possibly be true. As far back as the invention of the telescope in the early 1600s, the Jesuit astronomers could have made some primitive maps showing routes between the lunar landforms.

Not all space-related topics demand a full half-hour to explain, and some emerging ideas at the ISDC are simply so innovative and unique that they have not yet been fully explored and developed. The Launch Pad Talks are home to some of the most exciting ideas in space exploration, development, and settlement, by some of the newest voices in the field, all in the span of seven minutes!