In 2013, Col. Michael Hopkins became the first Olmsted Scholar to go to space on the 37th and 38th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). This was the culmination of 23 years of service in the US Air Force.

While receiving his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University in 1992, he operated as a Test Pilot Technical Support Officer at Edwards Air Force Base. Before his Olmsted experience, Col. Hopkins was assigned as a Space-Based Radar Research Officer, a Space Technology Program Manager, Chief for C-130 Operations Engineering and a Flight Test Engineer for a US Air Force-Canadian Forces Personnel Exchange Program.

In 2003, Col. Hopkins began the Olmsted Scholar Program in Parma, Italy where he studied Political Science at the Universita degli Studi di Parma.

After Olmsted, he was assigned to the Pentagon where his assignments included as a Program Element Monitor to the United States Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and then as a Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2009, Col. Hopkins was selected as one of 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class, and in 2011, he graduated from Astronaut Candidate Training, which included instruction in ISS systems, extravehicular activity, robotics, psychological training, T-38 flight training and water/wilderness survival training.

Launching out of Kazakhstan, he flew to the ISS with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryanzanskiy. While on the ISS, Col. Hopkins and another astronaut conducted a pair of space walks, lasting 13 hours in total, to replace a degraded cooling unit on the station. According to Col. Hopkins, “The Olmsted experience helped create a foundation of understanding and insight that served me well as I went on my mission to the International Space Station with an international crew of diverse backgrounds.”