Space Education & Strategic Applications

Dr. Sian Proctor is a Geoscience Professor at the Maricopa Community Colleges, an Afrofuturism Space Artist, and an Astronaut. She is the Chief Inspiration Astronaut of Space2inspire and founder of The Proctor Foundation for Art and Science. She was the mission pilot for SpaceX Inspiration4, the first all-civilian orbital mission. She is the first woman commercial astronaut spaceship pilot and the only African American woman to ever be a mission pilot. She is also the first African-American commercial astronaut, and the first African-American to paint in space. She is currently serving as a member of the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group representing the Maricopa Community Colleges and, in 2024, was selected to serve as a U.S. Science Envoy with the State Department. Her motto is Space2inspire where she encourages people to use their unique strengths and passion to inspire themselves and those within their reach. She uses her unique artistic style and poetry to share her love of human spaceflight and to bring her EarthLight experience down to Earth. She believes that we need to actively strive for a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive (J.E.D.I.) space both on Earth and beyond. 

John F. Bentivegna, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna serves at the highest enlisted level of leadership and provides direction for the enlisted force representing their interests to the American public and to those in all levels of government. He acts as the personal advisor to the Chief of Space Operations and the Secretary of the Air Force on all issues regarding the welfare, readiness, morale, proper utilization, and development of the U.S. Space Force.

Chief Bentivegna entered the United States Air Force in 1994 and has served in both Maintenance and Space Operations career fields. He has held positions at the squadron, division, group, wing, Numbered Air Force, Field Command and Headquarters Air and Space Force levels and served as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief Operations Officer and is the Enlisted Space Systems Operations Career Field Manager, Headquarters Space Force, Washington, D.C.

Chief Bentivegna entered the United States Space Force on September 1, 2020.

Carl Starr spent 12 years in Army Space Command and left the military in 1997 and went to work in Cambridge, Massachusetts for TRW on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. In 2000, Carl started his own aerospace engineering company and ran it for 13 years. He worked as an operations engineer with Northrop Grumman on the EOS satellites Aqua and Aura. Later, he began work on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as a Senior Systems Operations Engineer. He began working on the Webb Telescope full time in 2004.

On December 25^th, 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope and Carl led the Mission Operations Team on a 6-month effort, successfully completing commissioning of the Observatory in July of 2022. In October of 2022, Carl joined Millennium-Space Systems, a Boeing company, as their Systems Engineering Integration & Test (SEIT) Manager. He subsequently, built a system engineering presence in Chantilly, VA for Millennium and currently is leading the engineering effort in support of the ground segment for a missile warning constellation.

Carl received both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Space Studies from AMU. He completed both programs with honors. Carl is a part-time instructor for the Space Studies program at APUS/AMU. Carl is a bread maker and has a book published on Amazon titled “Old School Bread Making”. Carl is an avid gardener and appreciates the time in the dirt and away from computers.