Astronaut Jerry Ross featured during awards ceremony for MSU scholars
Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State University鈥檚 2022-23 Astronaut Scholars were recognized during an awards ceremony this week that featured keynote speaker Jerry Ross, a NASA astronaut who played an integral role in the nation鈥檚 space program from the 1980s through his 2012 retirement and was a 鈥渇requent flyer鈥 on critical pioneering space missions.
Britain Steele and Emma Wade, who were announced as MSU鈥檚 newest Astronaut Scholars this summer, were honored during the program with framed award certificates prior to Ross鈥檚 address. Steele鈥攁 two-time Astronaut Scholar鈥攊s a junior aerospace engineering major from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Wade is a senior computer science major from Decatur, Alabama, who also has received the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.
The prominent Astronaut Scholar awards originated when the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts in 1984 founded the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation鈥攊nitially called the Mercury 7 Foundation鈥攖o ensure that the U.S. remained at the forefront of technology and innovation. Other NASA astronauts continued foundation support and created a legacy of paying forward the mentorship, networking and friendship that have encouraged over 600 college students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics at 45 of the nation鈥檚 best universities. The scholarships provide up to $15,000 each in addition to giving recipients a lifelong affiliation with ASF.
MSU connects scholars to the ASF application through the Shackouls Honors College鈥檚 Office of Prestigious External Scholarships, led by Director David Hoffman, who also is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures.
Ross, an alumnus of Purdue University who began his career with the U.S. Air Force, has flown in 21 types of aircraft, holds a private pilot鈥檚 license and has logged more than 4,100 flying hours, the majority in military aircraft. His 1980 selection as an astronaut paved the way for him to eventually become a veteran of seven space flights with more than 1,393 hours in space, including 58 hours and 18 minutes of聽extravehicular activity, or EVA, on nine spacewalks.聽These seven flights comprise a world record that Ross now shares with one other NASA astronaut.聽Both his number of spacewalks and time on spacewalks are all time second highest among NASA astronauts. Ross has received numerous accolades, including 10 USAF medals, 15 NASA medals, three American Astronautical Society Victor A. Prather Awards for spacewalking achievements and four Flight Achievement Awards. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2014.
The author of 鈥淪pacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA鈥檚 Record-Setting Frequent Flyer鈥 (2013, Purdue University Press) made remarks about his life and space experiences and narrated 鈥渉ome-video鈥 style videos made during space flights. These included imagery of significant moments of innovation that marked historic milestones of the space program, as well as light-hearted recordings of Ross and fellow astronauts doing tricks and playing games while experiencing gravity in space.
When asked about his advice to students who would like to pursue a similar career, Ross said, 鈥淢y main message is whatever program you want to do, including becoming an astronaut, set that as your goal, with an understanding that you have to have a certain amount of innate capabilities that make that goal even remotely feasible. That being the case, then you鈥檝e got to study hard, you鈥檝e got to work hard鈥攁nd, very importantly, in any avenue in life you can鈥檛 give up too easily. Because you鈥檙e not going to succeed the first time you do almost anything鈥攖hey鈥檙e going to tell you to 'try again,' or 'come back later,' or 'not today' or something like that, and聽you鈥檝e got to take that as a challenge.鈥
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