"Space technology exports are a huge international issue right now," said Elliot Pulham, Sr. Vice President of the United States Space Foundation.

"The legitimate concerns of the national security community, as well as those of the commercial space and telecommunications industry, must be aired in an environment where they can be judged in context, and on their own merits," Pulham said. "That environment is the 15th Annual National Space Symposium, April 5-8."

The debate, "Commercialization, Trade and National Security" will feature Keith Calhoun-Senghor, Director of the Office of Air and Space Commercialization at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Henry Sokolsky, Executive Director of the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center. Representatives of the telecommunications industry, and China's space industry, have also been invited to participate in the session, which will be moderated by Space News editor Lon Rains.

The National Space Symposium is the premier annual gathering of the space professional community, and is hosted by the non-profit Space Foundation at The Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. Persons interested in attending may register on-line at www.spacesymposium.org, or call the Space Foundation toll free at (800) 691-4000.

In another face-to-face forum, National Security Advisor Robert Bell and national security advocate Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) will take opposing positions in a Point-Counterpoint discussion of national security space issues moderated by former representative Robert Walker, Chairman, the Wexler Group.

Kicking off the working sessions of the conference will be futurists and consultants Alvin and Heidi Toffler. Wrapping up the working sessions will be a Town Hall in Space interactive forum with NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, U.S. Space Command Commander-in-Chief Gen. Richard Myers, and National Reconnaissance Office Director Keith Hall.

The star-studded Space gala launches on Monday night, April 5, in opening ceremonies co-sponsored by the Lockheed Martin Venture Star team. The evening features performances by the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra, awards presentations to the NASA-Boeing International Space Station team and the STS- 95 space shuttle crew, followed by a reception co-sponsored by Hughes Space and Communications, and the Space Awareness Alliance.

The event culminates Thursday evening, April 8, when an unprecedented group of four space technologies are inducted into the Space Foundation-NASA Space Technology Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame dinner event is co-sponsored by The Boeing Company.

Space: Advancing Our World is the theme for this year's National Space Symposium. Other major corporate supporters include Raytheon, Space News, United Space Alliance, Spectrum Astro, Popular Science, CACI, Orbital Sciences, SpaceVest, Allied Signal, ITT Aerospace and Eastman Kodak.