Dr. Don Thomas is a former NASA astronaut and a veteran of four space shuttle missions, spending 44 days in space. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s and doctorate degrees in materials engineering. From 1999-2000 he was the NASA director of operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and from 2003-2006 he was the ISS Program Scientist.
From 2007-2015 Dr. Thomas was the founding director of the Hackerman Academy of Mathematics and Science at Towson University, a STEM outreach initiative that targeted elementary, middle, and high school students to encourage them to pursue careers in math, science, and engineering. He continues to work as an educator inspiring students to reach for the stars.