By Wayne Heilman
The first Space Symposium attracted 250 people to a Broadmoor meeting hall in 1984 to hear about the latest developments in space; this month more than 10,000 attendees will spread across two entire hotels in the 40th edition.
Best known for deal-making during meetings on the exhibition floor and big-name speakers at the podium, the “biggest space show on Earth” has become the largest convention held annually in the Colorado Springs area. The four-day event from April 7-10 at The Broadmoor and Cheyenne Mountain Resort will include some new events — a showcase for space startups and a lounge just for military personnel.
“It will be great to showcase Colorado Springs as one of the centers of gravity in the global space community,” says Rich Cooper, spokesman for the locally based Space Foundation, which was founded the year before the first symposium as a non-partisan organization to foster “a greater understanding and awareness…of the practical and theoretical utilization of space.”
The symposium’s first event this year occurs on Sunday, the day before the formal program begins, with a Congressional roundtable discussion featuring U.S. Rep. Bruce Babin, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee; U.S. Rep. George Whitesides, D-California, former CEO of Virgin Galactic and former NASA chief of staff, and U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs.
Major speakers for this year’s symposium include Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of the Colorado Springs-based U.S. Space Command; Janet Petro, acting NASA administrator; James Mazol, chief technology officer of the Department of Defense; Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force; Dan Goldin, former NASA administrator; Retired Gen. John Hyten, former vice chair of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, and Retired Gen. Jay Raymond, former chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force.
Panel discussions will feature top space executives from aerospace giants Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and L3Harris, and top officials from space agencies in the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Israel, India, Australia, Germany, France, Japan and the European Space Agency. The crew of the private Polaris Dawn mission, to study the health effects of space radiation and space travel, also is scheduled to speak at a luncheon.
Other highlights of the symposium include a drone show after the symposium’s opening ceremony; outdoor model displays of VAST Space Haven-1, a commercial space station scheduled to launch next year, and Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lunar Lander, which landed on the moon in early March; the Supplier Showcase, highlighting 48 emerging space companies; a pitch competition for eight companies competing for outside investment, and the Space Warfighters Lounge for military personnel attending the symposium.
The first symposium, called the National Space Symposium, was designed by the Space Foundation to bring together civilian, military and industry space leaders at the dawn of the Space Shuttle program. National was dropped from the symposium’s name in 2014 as participation became more global and the event grew as The Broadmoor added meeting and exhibit space, including both Broadmoor and Bartolin halls.
The symposium now fills 34 Colorado Springs area hotels, generating millions of dollars for hotels, restaurants, bars and other area businesses. The event has attracted U.S. and international military and space leaders as well as participants and attendees from more than 60 countries.
Notable speakers at previous symposiums include Vice Presidents Dan Quayle, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris; U.S. Defense Secretaries Casper Weinberger and Dick Cheney; Apollo Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Deke Slayton and Jim Lovell; astronomer and author Carl Sagan; and actors Leonard Nimoy and Sigourney Weaver.
Space Symposium by the Numbers
Number of symposiums held: 39 (2025 will be the 40th)
2025 expected attendance: About 10,000 from more than 40 countries
Exhibitors confirmed: More than 300
Speakers booked for 2025: More than 250
Military leaders speaking in 2025 (U.S. and international): 34
Civilian space agencies attending in 2025: 18
Host hotels in 2025: 2 (The Broadmoor and Cheyenne Mountain Resort)
Hotels booked by 2025 attendees: 34
Buses and shuttles booked for 2025: More than 25
Media credentialed for 2025: More than 100 from U.S., worldwide
