The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, a well-known public speaker and author on a variety of issues related to space exploration and advocacy, will be joining its virtual event – the 23rd Annual International Mars Society Convention, set to be held October 15-18.
Mrs. Whitesides is Co-Creator of Yuri’s Night, an annual worldwide party to celebrate Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space and help promote public interest in the final frontier. She is also a Consultant and Founder Astronaut for Virgin Galactic, an aerospace company that is developing commercial spacecraft with the aim of providing suborbital flights to space tourists and launches for space science missions.
Trained as an astrobiologist at Stanford University and CalTech, Mrs. Whitesides has been to the Canadian Arctic to study plant life in extreme environments and to hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean with Titanic director James Cameron to film a 3D IMAX documentary, ‘Aliens of the Deep.’ In addition, she has given numerous TEDx talks about space exploration and personal development.
This year’s global Mars Society conference will be free of charge (although donations are welcome). For full details, including how to register online and a list of confirmed speakers, please click here. The convention’s program itinerary will be posted in the coming days on the Mars Society web site and its social media platforms.
