As we recognize the many accomplishments the space community has contributed this past year, as well as the celebration of NASA’s 50th anniversary in 2008, the 3rd Space Exploration Conference will serve as fertile ground for the best of the space community to gather, review pivotal programs from the past, and synergize its input to forward space exploration for the next 50 years. Dialogue and decisions made at this opportune time in history will help define and meet the challenges we will face in our nation’s space programs for decades to come.