Welcome and Introduction
Presentation of Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Recipients
Reach for the Stars
Growing up in the Midwest, Scott Altman’s earliest memories are dreams of flying and becoming a pilot. A key element in pursuing that dream was studying Engineering at the University of Illinois. That along with soloing at Willard was the foundation that led to flying fighters off aircraft carriers, flying in the movie Topgun and becoming at Navy test pilot. It also opened the door to NASA and enabled him to fly 4 shuttle missions, culminating in commanding Atlantis on the final Hubble servicing mission. Scott takes us on that journey, telling stories about his experiences and the roadblocks he encountered along the way. His talk includes stories about how Illinois enabled his career, performing test flights of the new F-14D and ultimately his time as an astronaut. He will also share the story of leading the astronaut office team during the investigation of the Columbia accident that took the life of three of his astronaut classmates along with four other good friends. He will share lessons learned about overcoming obstacles, creating high performing teams, and working together to accomplish what some thought was impossible, recovering from tragedy to show that we really can “Reach for the Stars!”
