Astronaut Jerry Ross featured during awards ceremony for 酴圖弝け scholars
Contact: Allison Matthews
STARKVILLE, Miss.酴圖弝けs 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 nations space program from the 1980s through his 2012 retirement and was a frequent flyer on critical pioneering space missions.
Britain Steele and Emma Wade, who were announced as 酴圖弝けs newest Astronaut Scholars this summer, were honored during the program with framed award certificates prior to Rosss address. Steelea two-time Astronaut Scholaris 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 Foundationinitially called the Mercury 7 Foundationto 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 nations best universities. The scholarships provide up to $15,000 each in addition to giving recipients a lifelong affiliation with ASF.
酴圖弝け connects scholars to the ASF application through the Shackouls Honors Colleges 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 pilots 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 ofextravehicular activity, or EVA, on nine spacewalks.These seven flights comprise a world record that Ross now shares with one other NASA astronaut.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 a