Space Technology Hall of Fame® Dinner Features Best-Selling Author and Political Satirist P.J. O'Rourke

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 11, 2010) — The nation’s premier political satirist will be speaking at the nation’s premier gathering of space professionals when he headlines the annual Space Technology Hall of Fame® dinner on April 14, 2011, at the 27th National Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Presented annually by the Space Foundation as the final major event of the Symposium and co-sponsored by SpaceX, the Space Technology Hall of Fame® dinner honors extraordinary technologies originally developed for space that now improve life here on Earth. The 2011 recipients will be named early next year.

The dinner is known for its outstanding speakers, which over the past few years have included astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye the Science Guy® and actor Leonard Nimoy. The 27th National Space Symposium is April 11-14, 2011.

About O’Rourke
With more than a million words under his byline and more citations in The Penguin Dictionary of Humorous Quotations than any other living writer, P.J. O’Rourke is the best-selling author of 12 books. His newest, Don’t Vote: It Just Encourages the Bastards, was released Oct. 5.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, O’Rourke attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and received an M.A. in English from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md., where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. After working at small newspapers in Baltimore and New York in the early 1970s, he joined The National Lampoon where he became editor-in-chief.

Concluding in the ’80s that the real world was funnier than anything The National Lampoon’s writers could create, he became a foreign correspondent and since has covered crises and conflicts in more than 70 countries.

O’Rourke has written for such diverse publications as Car & Driver, PARADE, The Weekly Standard, House & Garden, The American Spectator, Forbes, FYI, The Atlantic Monthly and Rolling Stone, where he was the foreign-affairs desk chief for 15 years. He is the H.L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and a frequent panelist on National Public Radio’s game show “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”

Covering current events with the skill and discipline of an investigative reporter, O’Rourke has earned a reputation as a modern-day Will Rogers.

About the Space Technology Hall of Fame®
Since 1988, the Space Technology Hall of Fame®, in cooperation with NASA, has honored those who transform technology originally developed for space exploration into products and services that help improve the quality of life here on Earth. Dozens of technologies and hundreds of individuals and organizations have since been recognized, including last year’s inductees, digital fly-by-wire technology and Eagle Eyes protective lenses. Visit www.SpaceTechHallofFame.org for more details.

About the 27th National Space Symposium
Presented by the Space Foundation, the 27th National Space Symposium brings together all sectors of space to highlight accomplishments and address opportunities and issues facing the global space community today. The Symposium offers presentations and panels covering all aspects of space, plus special events and presentation of several prestigious space-related awards. The extraordinary Boeing Exhibit Center will occupy three halls in 2011.

The Symposium’s top allure to attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and speakers – of which there were nearly 9,000 in 2010 – is as a venue for networking and conducting meaningful business. Online registration and more information, including agenda, speakers and exhibitors, are available at www.NationalSpaceSymposium.org.

The Symposium will feature Cyber 1.1, which covers the emerging field of cyberspace, and an expanded New Generation Space Leaders programs for young, up-and-coming space professionals, age 35 and younger.

Special for the 27th National Space Symposium is the Industry Salutes the Space Shuttle luncheon, which will be held on April 12, 2011, the 30th anniversary of the initial Space Shuttle launch. The luncheon, co-sponsored by United Space Alliance, will include a presentation to NASA in honor of the men and women who contributed the nation’s longest-duration and most productive space program.

Register Now
Industry attendees who register before Jan. 14, 2011, can save up to $500 with the Super Early Bird rate.

27th National Space Symposium Co-Sponsors
Confirmed co-sponsors of the 27th National Space Symposium include a.i. solutions; Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI); ATK; Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.; The Boeing Company; Cisco Systems, Inc.; General Dynamics; Integral Systems; International Space University; Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grumman; Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne; Raytheon; SpaceX; and United Space Alliance. Space News International and Aviation Week are official media partners. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available; interested companies should contact [email protected].

About SpaceX
SpaceX is private commercial space transport company based in Hawthorne, Calif., that is developing a family of launch vehicles designed to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access by a factor of ten. Established in 2002 by Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation, SpaceX has developed two new launch vehicles, established an impressive launch manifest and been awarded COTS funding by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX is privately developing the Dragon crew and cargo capsule and the Falcon family of rockets from the ground up, including main and upper stage engines, the cryogenic tank structure, avionics, guidance & control software and ground support equipment. With the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy launch vehicles, SpaceX offers a full spectrum of light, medium and heavy lift launch capabilities and can deliver spacecraft into any inclination and altitude, from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit to planetary missions. All stages of the Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 Heavy are reusable, making them the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicles. SpaceX’s design and manufacturing facilities are located near Los Angeles International airport; propulsion and structural test facilities are in central Texas; and launch complexes are at Vandenberg AFB, Kwajalein Island and Kennedy Space Center. For more information, go to www.spacex.com.

About the Space Foundation
The Space Foundation is an international, nonprofit organization and the foremost advocate for all sectors of the space industry – civil, commercial, military and intelligence. Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is a leader in space awareness activities, educational programs that bring space into the classroom, and major industry events, including the National Space Symposium, all in support of its mission “to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.” An expert in all aspects of the global space industry, the Space Foundation publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity and provides three indices that track daily performance of the space industry. Through its Space Certification and Space Technology Hall of Fame® programs, the Space Foundation recognizes space-based technologies and innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation conducts research and analysis and government affairs activities from its Washington, D.C., office and has field representatives in Houston, Texas, and Cape Canaveral, Fla. For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and read about the latest space news and Space Foundation activities in Space Watch.

# # #