the right stuff

NASA astronaut William Shepherd will be the guest speaker for the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition Lecture Series on October 12.

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By JoAnn Guidry

From the depths of the ocean to the gateway to space, William Shepherd has always had the right stu .

Shepherd, a retired U.S. Navy captain, has a résumé that includes underwater demolition frogman, Navy SEAL, NASA astronaut and senior government o cial with the Department of Defense. Shepherd fl ew on three space shuttle fl ights (1988, 1990 and 1992) as a mission specialist and fl ight engineer. In 1993, he was selected by NASA’s administrator to be the fi rst program manager for the International Space Station. From October 2000 to March 2001, Shepherd’s crew spent four and a half months on the ISS, establishing the space outpost’s operational and research capabilities.

“I would describe my career as very unconventional. You know the phrase ‘think out of the box?’ Well, most Navy SEALS think there never was a box,” says Shepherd, who left NASA in 2001. “I was inspired by my father, who was a World War II Navy pilot and later worked in various DOD contract positions. He worked for a company that was involved in the design of NASA’s Mercury and Gemini capsules. We had family friends who were Navy divers. Growing up, this was what inspired me.”

Shepherd earned his bachelor’s in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy; his master’s and engineer’s degree in mechanical and ocean engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Accolades earned include the Spirit of St. Louis Medal, Gagarin Gold Medal, Robert H. Goddard

Trophy and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

“My first flight in the space shuttle in 1988 gave me a remarkable perspective of the Earth,” says Shepherd. “Every 35-40 minutes, our flight came out of darkness and then we spent half of our next orbit in sunlight. On one pass, we flew over the south Atlantic, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Rift Valley, Horn of Africa, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf, Iran, Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, China, Mongolia, northeast Russia and the Aleutian Islands. Then we went back into darkness over western Alaska. For four more days, we watched other parts of the Earth flash by below, 16 times a day.”

For his IHMC engagement,

Shepherd will focus on his ISS experiences.

“I want to talk about why we are involved in the ISS,” says Shepherd, who is currently a private national security and technologies consultant to government and industry. “And I will also discuss the integration of humans and machines in our modern world.”

Learn more › IHMC EVENING LECTURE SERIES › Capt. William Shepherd › Thursday, October 12 › 6-7pm ihmc.us/352-387-3050