FAU to Host Alumnus, Retired Astronaut Steve Swanson

  Astronaut Steve Swanson

Boca Raton, FL – Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science will host a presentation by FAU alumnus and retired NASA astronaut Steve Swanson ’86 on Friday, Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. in the Cube of the Engineering East building, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. Media interviews will take place at 10 a.m. in the College of Engineering and Computer Science conference suite of Engineering East.

During his presentation, Swanson will deliver a dynamic and interactive lecture about his time as an astronaut in the NASA space program, which will include a 30-minute video presentation of his journey in space and his time at the International Space Station (ISS).

Students from FAU High School; A.D. Henderson University School; Olympic Heights High School; and American Heritage School will be in  attendance and will participate in a Q&A session with Swanson at the conclusion of his presentation.

Within a span of seven years, Swanson made three trips to the ISS returning from his most recent mission aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-12M in November 2014. Swanson joined NASA as a systems engineer in 1987 in the Aircraft Operations Division of Johnson Space Center, working on the Shuttle Training Aircraft.

In June 2007, while serving as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, he carried an FAU flag with alumni pins attached to it while traveling to the ISS to deliver a truss segment and new solar arrays. The flag now hangs in the main lobby of the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Swanson is also the first astronaut to post the first selfie from space to Instagram.

Swanson received a Ph.D. in computer science from Texas A&M University in 1998; a Master of Applied Science degree in computer systems from FAU in 1986; and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics from the University of Colorado in 1983. He is a 1979 graduate of Steamboat Springs High School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Swanson was the 2015 recipient of the FAU Alumni Talon Award.

To RSVP for media interviews, contact Brittany Sylvestri at 561-297-2676 or bsulli15@fau.edu.