Reaching for the Stars: Astronaut Marsha Ivins to Address the Class of 2026
Not every school can say its commencement speaker has orbited the Earth. On May 23, Brewster's graduating class will gather on Brown Field at 9 a.m., with Lake Winnipesaukee shimmering in the background, to hear from someone who has done exactly that. Marsha Ivins is a veteran NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer who has spent more than 1,300 hours living and working in space, and this spring, she is coming to Wolfeboro.
Marsha Ivins is the kind of person whose résumé reads like a list of things most people only dream about. Over a 37-year career with NASA, she helped shape the Space Shuttle era and the early foundations of commercial spaceflight. Her path began at the University of Colorado, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. Then it continued straight to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1974. From the start, her work was both technical and tangible: she helped develop the Orbiter cockpit layout, its displays and controls, and the Head-Up Display that pilots depend on to navigate in some of the most demanding conditions imaginable.
By 1980, she had added flight engineer and pilot responsibilities to her role, working on the Shuttle Training Aircraft and NASA's administrative aircraft. The credentials she accumulated over those years are remarkable: a multi-engine Airline Transport Pilot License, a Gulfstream-1 type rating, and commercial and instructor certifications across multiple aircraft types. She has logged more than 7,000 hours in civilian and NASA aircraft, a number that reflects not just skill, but an extraordinary commitment to mastery.
In 1984, Ivins was selected as a Mission Specialist in NASA's astronaut class, and what followed was a career in orbit that few humans have matched. She flew five Space Shuttle missions: STS-32 in 1990, STS-46 in 1992, STS-62 in 1994, STS-81 in 1997, and STS-98 in 2001. She served as the Astronaut Office's leading expert in flight crew equipment, habitability, imagery, and stowage, work that ensured the humans traveling to space could actually live and function while they were there. In her final years with NASA, she helped lead the office's support of the Constellation Program and the Commercial Crew Development initiative, helping to chart the course for the next generation of American spaceflight.
For Brewster students, her story is not just about space, but about curiosity, persistence, and the willingness to take on challenges that feel just out of reach.
Since stepping away from NASA, Ivins has continued to shape the industry. She has taken on flight test work for aircraft sensor systems, consulted on the final IMAX space film documentary released in 2015, and remains active as an independent contractor supporting human space exploration with commercial providers.
At Brewster, where the mission is to prepare diverse thinkers for lives of purpose, Ivins’ journey offers a powerful example of what that can look like in action. On May 23, with Lake Winnipesaukee shimmering in the background, the Class of 2026 will hear from someone who has lived that purpose at 17,500 miles per hour. It will be a moment that invites our graduates to look forward boldly and carry their own sense of purpose into whatever comes next.
