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STEM advocate, business pioneer, and life-long space enthusiast, John Shoffner will serve as pilot for �����о���’s Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on the SpaceX Dragon. Shoffner currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is honored to have this opportunity to not only achieve one of his greatest life’s dreams but also to use the Ax-2 mission to ignite a passion for STEM education in teachers and students worldwide to each pursue their ambitions.

Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and raised in Southeast Kentucky, Shoffner has been a pilot since he was 17 — accumulating more than 8,500 flight hours, a veteran of airshows for more than 25 years, and holding commercial, instrument, single- and multi-engine ratings in both land and sea aircraft and helicopters, along with ratings in ex-military jets and high-performance radial engine aircraft.

Shoffner’s professional career led him to the forefront of the fiber optic telecommunications industry at its earliest stages. He formed Dura-Line Corporation, developing and patenting multiple processes for materials and methods for the placement of fiber optic cable during the 1980s. As the use of fiber cable to replace copper networks began to spread around the world, Shoffner led the company into each new developing market — first to Europe and then with the fall of the Berlin wall, into the emerging new economies of eastern Europe, and finally on to India and China. The company thrived in each market and became a world leader with operations in nine countries. Dura-Line remains a world market leader today.

As Shoffner likes to say, “If you are not doing what you are, then you are just doing what you do.” In his case, after more than 20 years at Dura-Line, he determined that his contribution was complete, and he was no longer on his primary path. Shoffner left Dura-Line, as its CEO in 1997 to pursue other interests.

Shoffner’s core principles lay in finding and facing key personal challenges that require ultimate dedication and preparation for success. He believes we learn most about ourselves through personal challenge and high risk, and it is incumbent on each of us to explore our limits in all domains, whether sporting, intellectual, creative or socially supportive.

Shoffner is a lifetime athlete, with many years competing in cycling, white water kayaking, waterskiing, hang gliding, skydiving, base jumping, and motorsports.

Shoffner met his wife, Janine, skydiving in 1999 and the pair went on to make over 4000 skydives together. In 2012, they formed J2-Racing, a European based endurance motorsports racing team. Together they had many class wins and podium finishes driving the Mercedes AMG GT3 in the Nürburgring VLN (NLS) Endurance Series, the ADAC Nürburgring 24hour, and the GT Open International Series across Europe.

Space and science have served as primary interests throughout Shoffner’s life. At 8-years-old, when the space race was getting underway, Shoffner formed a young astronauts club with friends in his hometown of Middlesboro, Kentucky, closely following the missions of Gemini and Apollo. His early interests also extended to amateur radio and photography, getting his ham license, and building his first radios at 13 and operating a darkroom in his parent’s basement. During Ax-2, he is planning many amateur radio contacts and photo projects from the ISS.

Shoffner believes that the interests we maintain in our formative years of 10-14 are likely near the core of who we are as a person. Happy people do great things, and we are happiest when we do what we love.

Through the Ax-2 mission, Shoffner will work to bring awareness to the new era of space access through scientific research, technology demonstrations, and various outreach and educational events aimed at empowering educators and inspiring students to follow their core interests. Shoffner believes this new era has opened doors for careers never possible before – and that STEM education is the best tool to equip students to achieve their goals and live their most purposeful life. However, according to Shoffner, the education system can often be the bottleneck and we must continue to awaken those managing the system to understand and employ the power of the STEAM toolbox. We must acknowledge and nurture each student’s core vision of themselves and equip them with the personal tools to grow in their selected path. Throughout his training and flight, Shoffner will share his experience and learning with students and educators around the globe.