Buzz Aldrin, Elon Musk, Tony Fadell, Brian May, and all Apollo Astronauts Make Landings at STARMUS V to Round Out History’s Most-Impossible Science Festival

ZURICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In one of history’s great science gatherings, STARMUS V has collected a dizzying lineup of stars. On Monday, June 24th, Dr. Brian May, Hans Zimmer, Steve Vai, and Rick Wakeman serenaded The Stephen Hawking Medal Winners to a packed house at Samsung Hall. Winners Brian Eno, Todd Douglas Miller and Elon Musk, who graciously joined the festivities live from the Falcon Heavy launchpad, welcomed Buzz as a delightful surprise to STARMUS V attendees where he accepted the Stephen Hawking Medal for “lifetime achievement.”

Among the science celebrities was famed-astronomer, and fellow board member Jill Tarter of The SETI Institute, who hosted several panels including the Stephen Hawking Medal Winners at an enthusiastic press conference with the APOLLO Astronauts: Charlie Duke, Rusty Schweickart, Al Worden, Harrison Schmidt, Walt Cunningham, and Buzz Aldrin. The President of Armenia, Dr. Armen Sarkissian, addressed the crowd at STARMUS along with European Commissioner, Carlos Moedas of Portugal.

Elon Musk joined the festival live from the launchpad of Falcon Heavy just hours before their historic launch; graciously thanking the STARMUS board for receiving the Stephen Hawking Medal and emphasizing the importance of its relationship to science itself. It was another unforgettable moment for festival-goers.

Signaling an important shift to applied technology, Tony Fadell, inventor of the iPod and Principal at Future Shape, took over Stephen Hawking’s chair at STARMUS which will expand the festival’s influence and awareness, globally. “Many of our everyday things like laptops and smartphone tech were initially developed for space programs. Today more powerful, smaller, lighter and much cheaper consumer technologies are being adopted by NASA, ESA, SpaceX, etc. This opens up vast data streams about our earth from space. If we get this right, we can strengthen our capabilities to tackle critical issues on Earth: climate change, deforestation, plastic gyres, etc. protecting Earth and putting a multi-planet species within reach.”

Other milestone achievements at STARMUS V included Dr. Brian May and Dave Eicher presenting their new book “MISSION MOOD 3D” and the Swiss premiere of APOLLO 11 by Todd Douglas Miller.

Garik Israelian, STARMUS co-founder, commented “We are overwhelmed by the magnitude of this experience. And grateful. Each year STARMUS grows with more awareness and recognition of how we help our planet. I can’t think of a better time, or more appropriate place in history, for this festival.”

The STARMUS V lineup included more Nobel laureates, astronomers and science visionaries than any festival in history - a week of groundbreaking presentations by the world’s top thinkers – and doers.