Colonel Terry Virts is an American astronaut, writer, director and commentator who flew two space missions during his career with NASA, logging over 200 days in orbit and commanding the International Space Station during Expedition 43 in 2015.
As a former US Air Force fighter pilot and test pilot, Virts flew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-130 in 2010 before returning to the ISS aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for his long-duration mission. During Expedition 43, he conducted spacewalks and contributed to research that advances understanding of how the human body adapts to extreme environments. Beyond spaceflight, he has pursued photography, filmmaking and writing about exploration, bringing perspectives from low Earth orbit to broader conversations about humanity’s relationship with the natural world and the frontiers beyond it. His work spans technical commentary on aerospace and reflections on what orbital vantage reveals about our planet’s fragile systems.
