Scott Parazynski

Dr. Scott Parazynski is a physician, astronaut, best-selling author, tech CEO, and keynote speaker on innovation, risk management, mentorship, and leadership under extreme adversity.

Parazynski has lived and traveled globally, spending time in Senegal, Lebanon, Iran, and Greece. A graduate of Stanford University and Medical School, he went on to train at Harvard and in Denver for a career in emergency medicine and trauma.

In 1992, he was selected to join NASA’s Astronaut Corps and flew five Space Shuttle missions and conducted seven spacewalks. Mission highlights include a global ozone mapping flight; leading the first joint US-Russian spacewalk while docked to the Russian space station Mir; serving as Senator John Glenn’s crewmate and “personal physician”; and assembly of the Canadian-built space station robotic arm.

In 2007, Parazynski led the spacewalking team on STS-120, during which he performed four extravehicular activities (EVAs). The final EVA is regarded as one of the most challenging and dangerous ever performed. The coordinated effort in orbit and on the ground by Mission Control has been likened to the Space Shuttle and Space Station era’s “Apollo 13 moment.” He was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2016.

Parazynski is a commercial, instrument, multiengine, and seaplane-rated pilot. On May 20, 2009, he became the first astronaut to stand on top of the summit of Mount Everest. He and a colleague set the first bootprints adjacent the world’s youngest lava lake, inside the crater of Massaya Volcano in Nicaragua.

He is a prolific inventor/product developer and serves on the boards of several companies. He is the Founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies, which is focused on the development of revolutionary input devices powered by machine learning to intuitively move through physical and virtual space. He also serves as chief medical officer of community wellness.