Tom Marotta is the Founder and CEO of The Spaceport Company. Prior to founding The Spaceport Company he was the Principal Launch Licensing Manager at Astra Space where he obtained the first FAA Part 450 launch license and helped establish Astra’s second spaceport, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in 8 months, faster than it’s ever been done before. From 2016 to 2021 he worked at the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation managing the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee and writing portions of the Part 450 licensing regulation. From 2010 to 2016 he was U.S. Foreign Service Officer having served overseas in West Africa, Europe, and Iraq. He was an original co-founder of the Beyond Earth Institute and co-authored “The High Frontier: An Easier Way”.