Loretta Hidlago Whitesides has degrees in biology from Caltech and Stanford and has traveled 2 miles down to the bottom of the ocean with director James Cameron to film the 3D IMAX movie Aliens of the Deep. Loretta floats weightless as crew for ZERO-G’s 727 aircraft, blogs daily about space exploration for Wired Science and leads workshops on Launching Your Career in Space for undergrads.
Loretta and her husband George are the co-creators of Yuri’s Night, the annual worldwide space party celebrated every April 12th. They also have tickets for the first ever space honeymoon on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. A leader and pioneer in the Space Generation community, Loretta is passionate about bringing together people who want to use space to make a difference for the planet.