Terry Virts

Colonel Terry Virts (ret.) is a U.S. Air Force test / fighter pilot and NASA veteran of two spaceflights – a two-week mission onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2010 and a 200-day flight to the Space Station in 2014-2015. He is a celebrated thought leader, speaker and author.

His seven months in space included piloting the Space Shuttle, commanding the International Space Station, three spacewalks, and performing scientific experiments, all while working closely with multiple international partners. Virts flew with and led Russian Space Agency cosmonauts during some of the most tense relations with Russia since the Cold War.

While in space he took more than 319,000 photos – the most of any space mission. These images are an integral component of the IMAX film A Beautiful Planet, which Virts helped film and appears in.

Virts’ National Geographic book, View From Above, combines some of his best photography with stories about spaceflight and perspectives about life on earth and our place in the cosmos.

An in-demand speaker at events across the globe, Virts’ topics include stewarding our environment, better understanding life on earth through the lens of global wealth, risk and crisis management, the importance of innovation in design, strategy and vision, and intercultural leadership.