Joan Horvath is the executive director for the Global Space League, a nonprofit group that encourages science experimentation and interest among kindergarteners to college students. She is also the founder and CEO of Takeoff Technologies LLC, providing aerospace technologies consulting to the private sector and, primarily, the entertainment industry.

She previously served 16 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a true "rocket scientist."  Horvath has a master's degree in mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles.