November 18 & 19, 2001

Across two evenings, Dreams of Space Travel: Past, Present, and Future will explore how the social, political, economic, and military climate has influenced the imagination of scientists, engineers, and the public regarding space travel. These dreams will be traced along with the actual path that space travel has taken. Particular attention will be given to how our achievements have fallen short of these visions in some ways but exceeded them in others. While the thread of these topics will run through both days, each night will be themed.

Sunday night will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original 1951 Symposium on Space Travel held at the Hayden Planetarium, which spawned a series of articles on space travel in Colliers Magazine that birthed an indelible vision for the public's imagination and fascination with space.

Monday night will commemorate and critique the vision of space put forth in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Panelists:

• Fred Ordway—former member of the von Braun team at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; technical adviser to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Donna Shirley—Assistant Dean of Engineering at University of Oklahoma; manager of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Leonard David—space journalist and historian; former editor-in-chief of Ad Astra magazine
• Wes Huntress—Director of Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution of Washington; former Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA
• Lt. Gen. Martin R. Steele—President & CEO of Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum; USMC (Ret)
• Keir Dullea—star of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (Monday night's special guest).

Host & Moderator:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson—Astrophysicist and The Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium.