ORLANDO, Fla. – In journalism school, one of the first rules students are taught is this: don’t start a story with a question.
But let’s bend that rule a bit, because to fully appreciate this story, you’ll need (play along) and try to answer this:
Recommended Videos
“What are the top institutions in the U.S. that have the highest number of graduates who have gone on to become astronauts?”
After a moment of thought, you’d probably surmise that lots of space explorers are pilots, lots of pilots go through military academies, and the top place for military pilots is probably the Air Force Academy.
Good for you, you’re on the right track, and the Air Force Academy does make the top 10 list (but it isn’t the No. 1 school for astronaut graduates).
For a moment, let’s put military academies to the side and throw out a second part to the question:
“What about public and private universities – are there any of those with a lot of astronaut graduates?”
Any guesses?
There are your big schools like Penn State (87k+), Arizona State(79k+), Texas A&M (76k+), Ohio State (66k+), the University of Michigan (52k+), UCLA, and USC (both around 47k+). Astronauts are also very smart folks: what about the Ivy League schools that include Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, or Princeton?
And our own local schools like Embry-Riddle University, UCF, the University of Florida, and Florida State – are any of them in the top 10 for astronaut grads?
Nope.
OK – I’ve kept you in suspense long enough.
Here’s my list of the schools with the most graduates who have become astronauts (with links) according to the research I gathered as of late July 2025:
1 - United States Naval Academy (55 graduates)
2 (tie) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (44 graduates)
2 (tie) - Naval Postgraduate School (44 astronauts)
4 - U.S. Air Force Academy (41 graduates)
5 - Purdue University (28 astronauts)
6 - Stanford University (26 astronauts)
7 - U.S. Military Academy (USMA | West Point) (21 graduates)
8 - University of Colorado Boulder (19 graduates)
9 - Georgia Institute of Technology (14 graduates)
10 - University of Texas at Austin (12 graduates)
Purdue is the top public university in the country when it comes to graduating astronauts (three of the other top five schools on our list are military academies and MIT is a private school).
And it turns out one of Central Florida’s own just joined this elite club.
I wouldn’t have guessed the USNA would top the list, but according to their own website, their undergraduate Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Program is “structured to produce naval officers who will meet the technical and leadership challenges of serving in such areas as naval aviation, space, and research.”
So how does this all tie back to Central Florida? Read on, as I’m going to now fill you in on something that recently happened to Winter Park resident Marc Hagle and how all of this ties together.
First, a little background: in case you didn’t know, Marc Hagle and his wife Sharon are Central Florida’s resident space explorers.
The couple launched into space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-20 mission on March 31, 2022 and in doing so, became only the second husband and wife to travel to space on the same launch, but the first on a commercial space vehicle flight. NASA astronauts Mark Lee and Jan Davis went to space in September of 1992 aboard the shuttle Endeavor breaking an unwritten rule of spouses flying into space together (that rule is now very, very written for NASA).
NS-20 was a suborbital flight lasting just over ten minutes with a maximum height of 66 miles above the planet. The flight rose well past the Kármán Line (62 miles above the planet), considered the official boundary of space. Two years later, the Hagles went to space for a second time, this time aboard Blue Origin’s NS-28 on November 22, 2024 where both Sharon and Marc conducted experiments.
Marc is a two-time Boilermaker – a proud 1971 graduate of Purdue University who earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in business and industrial administration a year later. Yes, that same Purdue University that is number five on the list of astronaut grads (I know, it took me long enough to get to the point, but now, here we are!).
On Sunday, July 20, Hagle’s alma mater inducted him into Purdue University’s “Cradle of Astronauts” as a Private Specialist Astronaut. Hagle is now officially recognized with 27 other Purdue graduates for their contributions to space exploration.
“It was four years in the making, and now being part of that group is an extraordinary honor,” Hagle told me days after he was inducted.
Purdue has three designations for members in the Cradle: NASA Astronaut, Commercial Astronaut, and Private Specialist Astronaut. Hagle is the first person to be recognized as a Private Specialist Astronaut; the title was created by the university’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics just this past Spring and according to Purdue’s website:
“The Private Specialist Astronaut designation recognizes Boilermakers who perform research or educational outreach on a mission above 80 kilometers in altitude, while acting as a private individual or as an employee of an organization that is not the flight operator.”
On NS-28, Marc participated in research for Baylor College of Medicine and the Translational Research Institute for Space Health and their BioButton project.
The Cradle of Astronauts pays homage to two of the university’s most famous graduates: Neil Armstrong, the first man to take a step on the Moon on July 20, 1969 (during Apollo 11) and Gene Cernan, the last NASA astronaut to walk on the Moon on December 14, 1972 (during Apollo 17). Space exploration seems to be so popular at the school that the university also now boasts a full slate of degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering: bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate. Additionally, Purdue University is the first university in the country to provide both an Undergraduate Certificate in Space Engineering and a Space Systems Engineering Online Master’s degree.
By the way, I would be remiss to not give a shoutout to our local schools, their excellent programs, and their own astronaut graduates:
Embry-Riddle University has graduated ten astronauts (nine of them are still active), UF has graduated eight astronauts (including Bill Nelson, former U.S. Senator and NASA Administrator), Florida State has two astronaut grads (Winston Scott and Norman Thagard), and UCF also has graduated two astronauts (Fernando “Frank” Caldero and Nicole Stott).
Marc Hagle compares the current commercial companies sponsoring space flights (Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic) to the airlines of a hundred years ago when flying across the Atlantic Ocean was something reserved for a select few who could afford the high price of a ticket.
“People who go up on private commercial flights are helping fund future developments,” he said. “It’s not just about space travel – it’s also about travel around the world. Imagine getting from New York to London in minutes instead of hours? That’ll be done because vehicles will take a shortcut through space. That’s the future that will benefit all of us.”