Joe Bussenger

Director of Launch Operations, Relativity Space

Joe Bussenger grew up in Perkasie, Pennsylvania where at a young age showed passion for motorsports and rockets. By age ten and through the strong support of his parents throughout the years, aerospace engineering was in his sights. Joe attended the Florida Institute of Technology in 2009 after learning about the school through the International Science and Engineering Fair from which Joe earned third place for rocket-oriented research.

As a freshman and sophomore, Joe interned with Northrop Grumman's rocket system launch program where he supported propulsion testing for the United States' aging minuteman and peacekeeper assets. During his junior year, Joe went on to become an engineering intern at SpaceX in Cape Canaveral and continued his internship while being a full-time student his junior and senior year.

Joe continued to work at SpaceX as one of the first dedicated engineers to recovery and landing operations. Joe was the lead engineer for SpaceX's first Falcon 9 landing and announced to the world "The Falcon Has Landed" during that historic mission. Over ten years at SpaceX, Joe was the primary landing controller for over 100 Falcon 9 landings, oversaw cargo and astronaut recovery, and managed varying groups including recovery and launch control.

Joe departed SpaceX as the Director of Recovery Operations in 2022 and joined Relativity Space as a Principal Operations Engineer before becoming the Director of Launch Operations and the Florida Site Director. Joe lives in Viera, FL and in his free time enjoys playing hockey, motorsports, working on cars, and traveling.

Bill "Roto" Reuter

President, R-Squared Solutions, LLC

Bill "Roto" Reuter grew up in Key West, Florida, and graduated from the University of Florida in 1984 where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering, and was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Program.

Roto dreamed of flying in space, but instead became a Navy fighter pilot then test pilot before his assignment in 2008 as the NAWCTSD executive officer, and subsequently the commanding officer from 2010-2012. During his tenure, Roto led the 1200 personnel at NAWCTSD through the most transformational change in its 65-year history, from a mission funding fiscal model to a working capital fund model, leading and instituting the Four Disciplines of Execution and the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership as part of a holistic strategy to develop people in order to advance the organization and its mission.

Upon his retirement in June 2012 after 28 years of Navy service, Roto founded R-Squared Solutions LLC, a full-spectrum consulting firm specializing in leadership and executive coaching, high-performing organizational development, and DoD/federal industry business development.

Roto has successfully coached leadership teams in dynamic organizations in the fields of leadership, execution, and organizational health, with clients that include both small and large businesses in defense, federal and commercial sectors.

Roto has over 3,000 hours of flight time in 33 different aircraft, of which more than 2,100 are in the F/A-18. He has been awarded two Legion of Merits, two Meritorious Service Medals, two Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medals and the Navy Achievement Medal. His degrees include a Master's and Post-Master's (Engineer's Degree) in Aerospace Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Master's in Business Administration from IMPAC University. He is a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Roto is very committed to serving the Central Florida community and is involved in a variety of organizations that focus on the community's growth, veteran well-being, and support of the Navy, to name a few. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of Orlando, Inc. (Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce) and the Florida Defense Contractors Association. Roto is the president of the Navy League Council of Central Florida, as well as a board member of the Samaritan Resource Center for the homeless. He is also a board member for the National Center for Simulation, and served as chairperson for Leadership Orlando (Class 80).

Mark D. Wiese

Manager, Deep Space Logistics, NASA-Kennedy

Mark D. Wiese is the manager for the Gateway program's Deep Space Logistics at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, he provides project management expertise and strategic vision for commercial spacecraft, launch vehicles and integration services to advance the agency's Gateway lunar orbiting platform of complex systems, utilization payloads, and research and development technologies. Wiese oversees the design, development, test, and evaluation of the logistics spacecraft along with the program's integration of commercial logistics missions to Gateway.

From April 2021 to May 2022, Wiese led the rapid development, evaluation, and award of NASA's multi-billion-dollar Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, a catalyst for the agency to make an agile cultural shift from over 50 years of in-house led spacesuit development to a new innovative commercial services approach that allows NASA to partner with private industry for the next generation of spacewalking capabilities.

Wiese was appointed to the Federal Senior Executive Service in January 2017 as the deputy director of the Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. His contributions focused primarily on leadership development and strategic planning to ensure safety and mission success of Kennedy-managed programs as well as the center transition into a multi-user spaceport.

Wiese began his career with Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in 1998 as a Geographic Information Systems technician. In the years following, he transitioned to SAIC's S&MA team at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where he worked in NASA's Mission Control Center and later joined the Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy as a quality engineer.

Wiese joined NASA in 2003 as a mission assurance manager for LSP, where he was responsible for leading the S&MA efforts for NASA's Atlas V vehicle certification that led to the successful launches of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Pluto New Horizons missions. In 2006, Wiese was promoted to support the Space Shuttle Program as deputy chief of the Launch Vehicle Processing (LVP) S&MA Division, rose to division chief in 2007, and was responsible for planning, organizing and directing activities required to gain insight, assess risk, and influence safe and successful launch operations for the final 20 space shuttle missions and the Ares I-X development flight test.

In the years spanning from 2010 to 2016 under LSP, Wiese was appointed to chair for the Expendable Launch Vehicle Integrated Services 2 (ELVIS 2) Source Evaluation Board (SEB), made chief of the Flight Projects Branch of LSP's Business Office, and then became chief of LSP's Flight Project Office (FPO). Wiese received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2010 for his role in transforming the culture and improving the workforce dynamics of the LVP S&MA team and again in 2012 for his efforts in the award and contract phase-in of ELVIS 2.

In his chief roles supporting LSP, Wiese was instrumental in developing the Venture Class Launch Services Contracts (VCLS), which proved to be a significant milestone for assuring long-term launch services for an emerging commercial small-satellite market. Wiese was responsible for over $500M/year in launch service contracts, as well as the successful launch of four missions aboard SpaceX, ULA and Orbital-ATK rockets.

Wiese earned his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Florida Tech in 2000 and his master's degree in industrial engineering, with a focus on program and project management, from the University of Central Florida in 2011.

Wiese was raised in Garrison, New York, and now resides in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, with his wife and three children.