Keynote Speaker: Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt
Dr. Schmitt, the lunar module pilot of the final lunar mission Apollo 17, was one of only 12 persons to have walked on the moon and the only geoscientist to have done so. Dr. Schmitt holds a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. Geology from Harvard University. Dr. Schmitt participated in the examination and evaluation of the returned lunar samples and played an active role in documentation of the Apollo program's geoscientific results.
Presently Dr. Schmitt chairs the NASA Advisory Council and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is a consultant engaged in research with the Fusion Technology Institute, studying the feasibility of using helium-3 as fuel from the moon. In addition, he is the founder and chairman of Interlune Intermars Initiative Inc., an organization whose goal is to advance the private sector's acquisition and use of lunar resources, and is an accomplished author with his recent publication, "Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space" (2006).