Katie McLean | Staff Photographer
Retired NASA astronaut Story Musgrave delivers a compelling speech detailing his life story at Wednesday’s morning lecture program in the Amphitheater.
The man responsible for repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, flying six space missions and performing the first spacewalk on Space Shuttle Challenger’s first flight was a high school dropout.
Jess Miller
Story Musgrave, who gave Wednesday’s morning lecture in the Amphitheater, kept the audience spellbound with the tale of his transformation from farm boy to NASA astronaut — accumulating seven master’s degrees along the way.
Musgrave showed the audience a photograph of an old piece of equipment he used while growing up on his father’s dairy farm in Stockbridge, Mass.
“Do not forget,” Musgrave said. “I ride 1940s balers, but I also ride rocket ships.”
Musgrave said that the physical work he did as a boy helped him later in life.
“Without child labor, I wouldn’t have been who I am,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been an astronaut, and I wouldn’t be here today. For me, child labor was glorious. It made me tough and gave me work ethic.”
Musgrave told audience members to figure out their skill sets and to then develop them.
“I had to learn to figure it out,” he said. “I had direct experience of figuring the world out. Figuring it out is a skill.”
Susan Martin, a lecture audience member from Toledo, Ohio, thought that Musgrave’s message resonated with those who haven’t yet decided on a specific career path.
“It’s an impressive life that he’s led,” Martin said. “I think he’s a great example for the youth who maybe don’t have a lot of direction.”
From the time Musgrave was 10 years old, he was driving and repairing trucks and combines.
Discerning early on that he had an affinity for mechanics and repair work, he dropped out of high school with the intention of driving bulldozers for the Marine Corps.
But his ranking officer told him there was a problem with his Marine Corps entrance exam.
“You did too well,” the officer told him. “We’re sending you to airplanes.”
Musgrave proceeded to work on airplane engines, readying them for use in the Korean War. When the war ended, he was left searching for a career. Because of the G.I. Bill, he “begged [his] way” into Syracuse University. After graduating with a mathematics degree, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves, during which time he drove and repaired tanks.
His intelligence and determination propelled him through medical school at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Curious as to how the brain worked, Musgrave studied nerve physiology and published five papers in leading medical journals during his first year, which later led to a job as a part-time trauma surgeon.
Musgrave’s search for a career path, combining his veneration for science and doing the impossible, led him to NASA. He began as a maintenance test pilot, because he was the only scientist who also had airplane repair experience.
“You see how life goes?” he said. “It’s inevitable.”
In 1975, Musgrave was recruited to work on the Hubble Space Telescope. Beset by budgetary delays, the telescope was finally launched into space in 1990. In 1993, Musgrave led the telescope repair mission, making Hubble the only space telescope that has ever been serviced while in space.
Musgrave delighted the Amp audience with his anecdotes about raising his grandchildren. His messages of hard work and determination resonated with the crowd, who applauded and laughed throughout the lecture.
Fred Shaefer, an audience member from Toledo, Ohio, said Musgrave’s narrative was rich in unique life experience.
“What I would take away from [his story] is the fact that he took advantage of every opportunity,” Shaefer said. “And it’s led to a pretty exciting life for him.”
Musgrave concluded his lecture by amazing the audience with photographs of space taken by the Hubble, and by Musgrave himself.
At age 77, what keeps him going?
“It’s the recognition that space is exploration,” he said. “It is history, and romance, and philosophy.”
The Chautauquan Daily 
