For retired astronaut Nicole Marie Stott, a stay on the International Space Station gave her more than the thrill of a lifetime, it re-inspired her love of painting. Stott first joined NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 1988 working in the Orbiter Processing Facility. In August 2000 she began her official astronaut training, successfully completing two space flights. Stott's art—inspired by the stunning views of earth glimpsed from space—eventually gave her the opportunity to launch the Spacesuit Art Project. Developed through the arts in medicine program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and hospitals around the world, the Spacesuit Art Project invites pediatric cancer patients and their families to hand-paint swatches of material. Those swatches are compiled and sewn together into space suits worn by astronauts from all over the world on space flights, serving as living testimonies to the powerful connections between art, science, healing and unity.
Carrie Hammer: Who were some of your role models as you were developing your professional career in science and technology?
Nicole Stott: My parents were definitely role models—my mom was a nurse, she was very creative, and my dad was a businessman who also built and flew small airplanes. I think the initial STEM influence on me, without knowing that’s what it was called at the time, was through this exposure to the things my parents loved as well as to flying, to hanging out at the airport and having that experience with my family. Ultimately it just naturally seemed to me that if you wanted to know what made airplanes fly, why wouldn’t you want to know what makes rockets fly?
There were also teachers—Mrs. Ranson in particular. She taught an introduction to aeronautics class in high school. I think I was the only girl in class, which at the time I didn’t think about too much. It was a class of people who were interested in something outside of the high school norms. There was also a young woman named Val Spies who owned a glider operation at the airport where I went with my family. She would take me flying, and, no I didn’t think it was remarkable that she was a woman who was also a pilot, but that it was just a natural thing for her to do.
There have been many role models for me along the way, but they have all been people who were just sharing what they loved doing.
Hammer: Why do you think it’s important for you to be a role model?
Stott: What I’ve learned over the course of all that I’ve done—whether that’s studying aeronautics in school, working for NASA, or to being a mother and an astronaut—it’s clear to me that young girls and young women need to see other women doing those things. That way, I feel that it opens them up to seeing everybody doing these different things and considering themselves a part of that. I really believe I have a responsibility to model that.
It feels pretty cool when you are in a group of girls and they are excited or they will say to you, “Wow, I didn’t think you could do that.” They might reveal to me that someone in their lives told them they couldn’t pursue whatever it was they wanted to pursue. No one should ever tell anyone, boy or girl, that they can’t do something. I am so thankful that I never had that.
Hammer: How have you seen STEM culture changing for young women since you began your career?
Stott: I think there’s been a real obvious and positive push to making young women aware of new, different and a wider array of career opportunities that are available to them. Younger generations seem to be more willing to challenge the boundaries or limitations that they may feel are imposed on them.
I also think that more and more young people realize there is a benefit to paying attention to what you enjoy. It’s not about just indulging in the really fun things you enjoy, but about knowing that the best you can provide—personally and professionally—comes from following what you’re passionate about. For me, opportunity started opening up when I acknowledged that flying was at the center of what I wanted to pursue. I’ve read a lot about people saying that this idea of following your passion is selfish. I don’t think so. If that pursuit is motivated by an understanding that your passion can lead to something that works for the greater good and that becomes a model for our children earlier in their lives, what’s wrong with that?
Hammer: What was it like to set foot on the International Space Station for the first time?
Stott: Overwhelming, awesome, impressive—all the words that you would think about this kind of experience. It was absolutely one of the coolest things I can think of. I am so hopeful that more people get to experience it because your body feels so liberated. You just move gracefully. Your body and brain figure out how to move gracefully in this truly three-dimensional environment.
One of the experiences that really impacted me being on the space station was simply the first time I got to look out the window. I knew I was really separated from the planet, my family and friends in a way that was different than anything I had ever experienced before. But at the same time, I felt more connected to the planet, to the people on it and to the other creatures we share it with. Actually, I strangely felt more connected than I do when I’m down there in the middle of it. It was an awe-inspiring perspective that really does provide you with a different appreciation of all of it.
Hammer: You are also an artist, which has played a somewhat surprising role for you as an astronaut.
Stott: I always painted and did woodworking. I sewed and did macramé with my mom. I took ballet, all that kind of stuff as I was growing up and some of it while I was studying and learning to fly. When I was in space I had the chance to paint. I’m so thankful to our ground support team looking out for our wellbeing in this way. We’re getting ready to go into space, thinking about the work we have to do and how to stay in touch with our families. We don’t think about how we’re going to be living up there for long periods of time and what we might be able to do in our spare time.
I took a little watercolor kit with me and got to paint. At five miles a second, whatever you’re looking at out the window is not going to be there by the time you get your brush to the paper. I would take photos and paint from those.
Hammer: How did this lead you to launch the Spacesuit Art Project?
Stott: After my second space flight, I worked on the ground for about a year. I continued painting because I had the time for it and found I really, really enjoyed it. I started getting involved with different organizations and realized that I wouldn’t be able to be as active if I were to continue to train and fly as an astronaut. I realized that I wanted to be out there communicating the experience I had in space in a different way. I kept coming back to the painting. I was starting to get the impression that this could be a different, important and potentially powerful way to share this experience with audiences that wouldn’t otherwise think about the perspective of space travel.
I made the decision to retire. The painting has allowed me to connect with all kinds of different people and to communicate all the great work going on in space that improves our lives today on earth. The art has given me the opportunity to work on projects like The Spacesuit Art Project, which is, quite honestly, one of the most important things I’ve ever done.
The project came about through the Johnson Space Center, the space station program, our space suit company, ILC Dover, partners from our International Space Station partner countries and pediatric cancer centers. But it was really based on the artistic genius of artist Ian Cion who at the time, was also the founder and director of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Arts in Medicine Program. Kids in treatment paint on small canvases that are then sewn into spacesuits worn by astronauts. We have three so far named Hope, Courage and Unity. Unity just got back from the ISS on a SpaceX vehicle.
Hammer: Why do you feel creativity is so essential to STEM overall?
Stott: With this project, we’re certainly trying to raise awareness with the issues associated with pediatric cancer. We want to be able to facilitate research on the space station, both about pediatric cancer and the relationship between art, science and healing. We want to continue to facilitate art in medicine programs in more hospitals around the world.
Whether you’re talking about art in medicine or art in science and technology, there’s an aspect to merging these things together that I believe allows people to use the full capacities of their brains. I am a total proponent of STEM, but I almost feel as if we’ve pushed it extremely far at the expense of the arts and humanities and the opportunity to engage our entire brains. I think we’re at a point where we’re realizing that we need to take a more renaissance approach to education. If we want our kids to be problem-solvers and to really think creatively about the problems we’re facing, we’ve got to prepare them to do more than just "STEM." I think that shift is starting to happen. And I'd actually argue that if we want the best STEM it has to contain an "A" for the arts.
I don’t think we’d have a space station if it weren’t for the mix of the artistic, aesthetic and scientific/technical design aspects coming together. I think if you can engage with what kids and young people are studying both creatively and technically, we’ll have much better, and hopefully happier, problem-solvers.
