A Retired Astronaut’s Next Mission – Nicole Stott

If you're an astronaut, what can you do for an encore? Nicole Stott, author of Back to Earth: What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It, found her new mission. And it's instructive for all Earthlings, not just astronauts. If you're contemplating a second act or an encore career, the story of how she's redirected her skills and talents will inspire you. And it may change how you think about how each of us can make a difference in the lives of others. We discuss: The story of how she became an astronaut What 104 days in space taught her about our planet What it was like to create a painting in space - and how it led to what she's doing today Her decision to retire from NASA - and her thought process When she first knew that she had found her next mission The work she's doing with The Space for Art Foundation What needs to be done to address climate change People who inspire her What we can all do as individuals to make a difference The key message of her book Back to Earth Nicole Stott joins us from Florida. _________________________ Take Charge of Your Future. Learn More about the Designing Your New Life in Retirement program here Starts January 20th  ____________________ Bio Nicole is an astronaut, aquanaut, artist, and mom - and now author of her first book Back to Earth: What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It. She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crew mates here on Spaceship Earth. Nicole is a veteran NASA Astronaut with two spaceflights and 104 days living and working in space as a crew member on both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. Personal highlights of her time in space were performing a spacewalk (10th woman to do so), flying the robotic arm to capture the first HTV, working with her international crew in support of the multi-disciplinary science onboard the orbiting laboratory, painting a watercolor (now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum), and of course the life-changing view of our home planet out the window. Nicole is also a NASA Aquanaut. In preparation for spaceflight, she was a crew member on an 18-day saturation dive mission at the Aquarius undersea laboratory. Nicole 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 of humanity here on Earth. On her post-NASA mission, she is a co-founder 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. ____________________ For More on Nicole Stott Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet―And Our Mission to Protect It Space for Art Foundation _________________________ Wise Quotes On Her Decision to Retire "Well, it was difficult. I think in my heart I knew I was ready to move on and do something different. I was really feeling more and more attracted to sharing the experience and communicating that to as many people as I could and finding my way to do that. And I knew that I really wouldn't be able to do that while still with NASA. But it was difficult for so many reasons. Number 1, I was in line to fly in space again. I probably would have flown in space again had I not retired. And to take yourself out of that is a difficult thing to do. But I asked myself honestly: Okay, do I need to fly in space again? And the answer was...No.