Longtime NASA astronaut Story Musgrave will be the Commencement Speaker for Tabor Academy's Class of 2018.

Commencement will be held under the Great Tent at Tabor Academy on June 1, beginning at 10 a.m.

As a member of the space shuttle Challenger’s first flight, Musgrave performed the first spacewalk and was the lead spacewalker on the Hubble Telescope repair mission. Between his six space flights, he was the communicator in mission control for 25 missions.

“Not only does Musgrave’s story resonate with our mission because of his high level of achievement, and impact, but because he is a clear example of a life-long learner,” said John Quirk, Head of School.

Musgrave is, at age 83, a producer and director of multimedia, a landscape architect, a heavy equipment operator, an innovator with Applied Minds Inc. and a professor of design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Musgrave also performs multimedia corporate presentations on the topics of design driven innovation, project management, operations, human performance, reliability, quality and safety.

According to his biography, from an early age, Musgrave showed signs of independent learning and innovation, building and floating rafts down the rivers near his home as early as age 5, and learning about engines and their maintenance on his parents farm.

Leaving school to help the Korean War effort, he joined the Marines where he enjoyed putting his mechanical skills to work on aircraft electronics and engines. “With six graduate degrees in math, computers, chemistry, medicine, physiology, and literature, and 20 honorary doctorates, he has shown throughout his life the value of persistently engaging with our individual curiosity and building knowledge in order to make a difference in the world around us. I am eager to have our students and guests hear Musgrave’s stories and perspective to learn what drives this incredible man,” Quirk said.