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David Wolf  

Astronaut, Medical Doctor, Engineer, Scientist, Inventor & Aerobatic Pilot

David Wolf, an astronaut, medical doctor, and electrical engineer, has a rich portfolio of experience that spans various domains. He has been to space four times, with three of these being short-duration Space Shuttle missions, the most recent one being STS-127 in 2009. Wolf's extensive spaceflight experience also includes a 128-day long-duration mission aboard the Russian space station Mir, which contributed to his total of over 4,040 hours spent in space. Further underlining his expertise, Wolf is a veteran of 7 spacewalks, totaling 41 hours and 17 minutes.

Notably, Wolf's experience took him beyond the confines of the United States. During his training for a Mir expedition, he lived and trained in Star City, Russia, and became fluent in Russian. His space missions included Mir Expedition 24, where he spent 128 days aboard the space station conducting various experiments, and STS-112, during which he executed 3 spacewalks to install the S1 truss segment and other EVA hardware. His last mission, STS-127, saw him executing 3 spacewalks, totaling 18 hours and 24 minutes, to deliver the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module – Exposed Section (ELM-ES) and new expedition member Timothy Kopra.

Wolf's academic background is equally impressive, with degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University and a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. He began his career at NASA in the Medical Sciences Division at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. His work extended to the design of the Space Station medical facility, and he became an expert in Extravehicular Activity (Spacewalk) and Spacesuit design. He has also authored over 40 technical papers and received numerous awards, including the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal and NASA Inventor of the Year.

Speech Topics


  • Every team member is critical – there are no small jobs
  • Leadership and Followership are both learned qualities that apply at every level
  • Effective motivated teams adapt the roles of individuals as situations evolve
  • Excellence derives from both successes and failures in a healthy culture
  • Sustaining excellence is an active process of organizational culture
  • Innovation occurs at inconvenient times, from unexpected sources, and are often not the originally intended goal – they are often better
  • Empowering the individual and the team is tricky business, but essential
  • Successful teams have the judgement to recognize innovation and advance these from the creative environment to mature critical operations
  • Nothing fails like success – we must avoid the black hole of complacency
  • These themes are relevant from the corporate boardroom to our youngest leaders of our future
  • One is never too young, or too experienced, to employ leadership/followership principles – it meshes the power of the individual with the team
  • This all works in our personal as well as professional lives

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