Jim Free, the senior advisor to Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, is NASA’s third highest-ranking executive and its highest-ranking civil servant. In addition to leading the agency’s 10 center directors and the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., he acts as chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees. In his keynote address, Free will discuss the International Space Station (ISS) as a novel platform for innovation in low Earth orbit (LEO), the exciting developments taking place on the space station, the agency’s perspective on its future, the growing space economy, and the continuity of research and development on the orbiting laboratory.

In his keynote address, Free will discuss the International Space Station (ISS) as a novel platform for innovation in low Earth orbit (LEO), the exciting developments taking place on the space station, the agency’s perspective on its future, the growing space economy, and the continuity of research and development on the orbiting laboratory.