Clayton Anderson (Astro Clay®) is - “Nebraska’s Astronaut!” Born in Omaha and raised in Ashland, he currently resides in his hometown of Ashland with his beautiful and talented wife, Susan. Retired (2013) after a stellar 30-year career with NASA, Anderson accumulated 167 days in space while living onboard the International Space Station for over 5 months in 2007 and serving as a Mission Specialist aboard bothAtlantis and Discovery with the STS-117/120 and STS-131 Space Shuttle crews in 2007 and 2010.

 

A seasoned spacewalker, Anderson spent nearly 40 hours in the unforgiving vacuum of space, helping build the space station through the execution of 6 spacewalks, ranking him in the top 40 on the world’s cumulative all-time spacewalk record list.

 

Anderson currently partners with the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland as the Nebraska State Advocate for STEM Innovation.

 

Author of 5 hugely successful –and three award-winning-- books, Clayton’s remarkable career has been chronicled in a documentary by Nebraska Educational Television (NET) entitled “Homemade Astronaut.” He has appeared on the History Channel with Larry the Cable Guy (“Only in America,”) the Travel Channel with Kevin Connolly (“Armed and Ready)” and Don Wildman (“Off Limits”), and The Science Channel’s “Secret Space Escapes.”

 

Clayton’s story is one of big dreams and perseverance. It is unique, heartwarming, inspirational, and shows with hard work, and a little luck, anyone can “…dare to be extraordinary!”