Katie Kubitskey is a Louisville Kentuckian and a world enthusiast. After completing her Masters Degree in Religion & Politics in California, she returned to Louisville to pursue a career in the travel and hospitality industry. In addition to her current position at the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, she recently started a travel consultant company with the goal of building culturally-enhanced travel itineraries.

, Louisville native, started her journey to the world of SpaceTech not through engineering or a love of space but through Entrepreneurship. Ellie graduated from Morehead State University in May 2013 with a Bachelor’s in Entrepreneurship. After graduation she took a position with the Kentucky Innovation network handling various tasks including start-up coaching, small business workshops, and speaking engagements. It was here where she was groomed her into the Director of the Space Tango Business Accelerator. The world’s first business accelerator of Space Science Businesses. There she managed and coached 3 start-up teams through The Lean Startup model. Shortly after the conclusion of this program Space Tango Inc began to focus on it’s real market and business model. Ellie continued to assist in any way possible with both Kentucky Space and Space Tango including business operations planning, marketing planning, and sales systems planning. In May 2015, Ellie finally joined Space Tango on full-time status as Director of Business Operations.

Dr. Julia Aebersold is the manager of the 10,000ft2 class 100/1000 Micro/Nano Technology Center (MNTC) cleanroom at the University of Louisville. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2005, has been awarded 7 patents and participated in 4 start-up companies. Dr. Aebersold has successfully maneuvered operations of the MNTC to become a prototyping facility for research institutions and external businesses across the country, while managing the facility to meet the varied needs of U of L faculty.

Twyman Clements is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Space Tango. Twyman leads a multidisciplinary team to deliver automated products that operate in the microgravity environment of low-Earth orbit (LEO). Twyman is frequently recognized for Space Tango’s innovative contributions to developing a new market infrastructure in LEO. He was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and is a 2018 recipient of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. Under Twyman’s leadership, Space Tango is maturing these research and hardware capabilities for sustainable manufacturing in space where microgravity is an asset to both the production process and their partners. Space Tango continues to excel in providing efficient and cost-effective product development cycles and rapid delivery of configurable systems to Fortune 500 companies, startups, research foundations, and academic institutions. Prior to Space Tango, Twyman served as a senior space system engineer at Kentucky Space where he developed high altitude balloons, CubeSats and other ISS hardware. Twyman received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Kentucky in mechanical engineering where he first began developing the original product architecture for Space Tango.

Michelle Lucas spent 10+ years working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. First as part of the International Space Station (ISS) Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP) and then in the Mission Operations Directorate as a Flight Controller in ISS Mission Control and as an Astronaut Instructor in the ISS Daily Operations Group. Additionally, she worked with each of the International Partners (European Space Agency – ESA, Japanese Space Agency – JAXA, and the Russian Space Agency) in the field of Daily Operations, Flight Controller, and Instructor Training. Michelle was part of the Core NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) team for 9 missions where astronauts would carry out analog space missions underwater in the Aquarius habitat. Along the way, Michelle found she has a passion for launching the next generation’s dreams and ambitions. Her passion for inspiring students led to extensive work with other organizations in STEM outreach so she founded the non-profit Higher Orbits to use space to excite and inspire students about STEM, Leadership, Teamwork, and Communication. Michelle is proud to be a Space Camp Alum, AIAA Associate Fellow, and member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame. She believes that collaboration in space and STEM is the key to the stars! Space Inspires!