Erika Wagner

Erika Wagner is a major player in the field of commercial space ventures and it is not easy to miss her excitement and enthusiasm for the future of space travel by ordinary people. As Business Development Manager for Blue Origin, LLC, a developer of vehicles and technologies to enable human space transportation, she is in the forefront of that field.

Erika has served as Senior Director of Exploration Prize Development for the X Prize Foundation and founding Executive Director of X Prize Lab at MIT. At MIT, she also served as Science and Executive Director of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program, investigating the physiological effects of reduced gravity.

From 2009 to 2012 her focus was on commercial suborbital launch vehicles as a member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s suborbital Applications Research Group. She serves on multiple national and state Science and Aerospace Boards. Erika’s interdisciplinary background includes a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering, a master’s in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Ph.D. in Bioastronautics. She is also an alumna of the International Space University.