Robert Dickman
Bob Dickman is the Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a professional membership technical society with more than 35,000 members in 79 countries. AIAA organizes the Space Exploration conference as well as many other technical conferences for the aerospace industry. His career spans the space business from basic research in particle physics to command of the 45 Space Wing and Director of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, FL. He served as the Air Force’s Director of Space programs, the Department of Defense Space Architect and the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office. He retired from active duty in 2000 as a major general. From 2002 to 2005, he was Deputy for Military Space in the office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force. He was the National Space Club’s Astronautics Engineer of the Year, was selected as one of Space News ‘“100 Who Made a Difference” and is a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the National Reconnaissance Office’s Technical Advisory Group.

Dr. Christain Feichtinger
Christian Feichtinger, 48, was born in Graz, Austria. He joined the European Space Agency in 1997 as its Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration (HME) Programme Representative in Moscow. He became Head of the ESA Permanent Mission in the Russian Federation in 2007 and from 2009 – 2011 was ESA's Senior Advisor on Exploration. An engineer by background, Dr Feichtinger graduated from the Graz University of Technology and earned a PhD in Space Experimentation. During the early 1990s and within the Institute of Applied Systems Technology of Joanneum Research, Graz, he became Technical Manager of the first Austro-Soviet manned space mission to MIR “AUSTROMIR” and the follow-on missions “AUSTROMIR-E” and “AUSTROMIR MED-F”. He became an integrated member of the ESA EUROMIR-94 and EUROMIR-95 Mission Management Team at ESTEC as Liaison Officer to Russian prime contractor RSC Energia, eventually becoming resident in Moscow as the EUROMIR-95 Flight Operations Manager at Russian Mission Control Centre. As incoming Executive Director, he will replace Philippe Willekens who leaves the IAF after six successful years at the end of December. Mr Willekens returns to the European Space Agency to join the Director General’s Cabinet. The President of the International Astronautical Federation, Prof. Dr Berndt Feuerbacher expressed delight at the appointment, "Dr Feichtinger has demonstrated huge capabilities as a manager and a scientist during his career. He has an excellent knowledge of the international space community and its activities. I am very happy that he is bringing his outstanding talent to the Federation at this important period of our growth. This appointment puts Dr Feichtinger in a key position to shape the future of international astronautics. I wish him all the best in his new responsibilities."