As a passionate mechanical engineer, Salam Abualhayjaa specializes in spacesuit design and advanced life-support systems for extreme environments. With a commitment to pushing the boundaries of space exploration, she has contributed to the development of 8 cutting-edge spacesuits for analog missions and real-world applications on Earth and beyond.

She also founded MENA, a non-profit woman-led organization for education and training in STEM and dedicated to inspiring the next generation of space explorers through analog missions, astronaut training, and STEM education initiatives.

As a Jordanian analog astronaut, she is dedicated to expanding opportunities for youth in space-related fields, advocating for diversity, and pioneering advancements that will shape humanity’s future in space.

When she's not designing spacesuits or leading projects, she's a public speaker, mentor, and advocate for STEM education, encouraging the next wave of engineers and astronauts to dream big and achieve the impossible.

Paul is the former Founder and Chief Story Architect of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab’s StoryLab. StoryLab is NASA’s first “story accelerator”: a strategic communications shop that brings expertise to the Lab in using the tools and language of storytelling to support JPL's impact on humanity.

With more than 20 years in strategic communications, Paul has a knack for “communicating complexity” and the “right kind of crazy”. He has successfully executed large scale ecosystem campaigns ranging from billion-dollar science missions like Mars Sample Return to unveiling the habitability of Venus to finding the biosignatures of life on other worlds. These campaigns involved creating and leading a strategic communications plan including executive, crisis, and internal communications, managing multi-stakeholder interests, and building emotional investment that drives impact, enrollment, and funding.

In addition to creating compelling messages through StoryLab, Paul co-created a “Credible Messenger” workshop with Caltech to identify and grow authentic, credible messengers to activate narratives around the future of our planet, resources on other worlds, and the technology to make it all real.

Paul has consulted or spoke on story strategy and the power of a kindred quest through a shared story with NASA HQ and other NASA centers, the UN, Boston Consulting Group, Google X, The Moonshot Factory, Caltech, CSUN, ASU, CalArts, Art Center, SXSW, C2 Montreal, Lululemon, California Science Center, Exploratorium, and several other Institutions across the globe.

Step inside the high-stakes world of space security with Theresa Hitchens, a trailblazing journalist and analyst whose career spans over three decades at the intersection of national defense, global policy, and the final frontier. In this episode, Theresa shares stories from her front-row seat covering everything from U.S. military space strategy to the delicate art of international space governance.

Discover how her leadership at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research shaped global norms for responsible behavior in orbit and hear behind-the-scenes insights from her reporting at Breaking Defense, where she unpacks the rapidly evolving landscape of national security space. Whether you’re a space policy enthusiast, a defense insider, or just fascinated by the geopolitics above our heads, you’ll find Theresa’s perspective both eye-opening and essential.

Tune in for a conversation that connects the dots between diplomacy, technology, and the future of humanity in space-guided by one of the field’s most respected voices.