Nicole Stott 

Nicole Stott is an astronaut, aquanaut, engineer, artist, author of “Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission to Protect It,” and most importantly, a mom. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire appreciation of our role as crewmates here on spaceship Earth. She is a veteran NASA astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days in space as a crewmember on both the International Space Station and the space shuttle. Personal highlights of her time in space include being the 10th woman to perform a spacewalk, the first person to operate the space station robotic arm to capture a free-flying cargo vehicle, the first to paint a watercolor in space, working with her international crew for the benefit of all life on Earth, and, of course, the life-changing view of our planetary home. She is also a NASA aquanaut. In preparation for spaceflight, she was a crewmember on the 18-day NEEMO 9 saturation dive mission at the Aquarius undersea laboratory. Stott believes that the international model of peaceful and successful cooperation we have experienced in the extreme environments of space and sea holds the key to the same kind of peaceful and successful cooperation for all life here on Earth. On her post-NASA mission, she is a technical and creative consultant, motivational speaker, and advocate for all we do in space that is ultimately for the benefit of all life on Earth. Stott is also extremely proud of her role as a founding director of the Space for Art Foundation — uniting a planetary community of children through the awe and wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art — and as a partner in purpose with Christina Korp and Space for a Better World, connecting the space curious to the space serious.