Waldorf Students and Space Exploration

April 9, 2026
Right now, a crew of four astronauts is making humanity’s first voyage around the Moon since 1972 — and stitched into the very suits keeping them alive is the innovation and technically precise work of a Waldorf graduate. As we await the return of the spacecraft tomorrow, we wanted to take a moment and honor recent Waldorf graduates whose work looks towards the frontiers of space.
WWS Alum Brandon Tapia (’20) is currently pursuing his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT.

During his undergrad studies at Virginia Tech, Brandon was a 2023 Astronaut Scholar, a distinction that honors exceptional students in science, technology, engineering, and math for initiative, creativity, and excellence. Brandon was recognized for “performing groundbreaking undergraduate research to both improve the air we breathe on Earth and develop materials designed to withstand harsh space environments outside of Earth’s atmosphere.” (VT article) 

“As a chemical engineer, I work to control molecules at the atomic scale while balancing the ethical and practical challenges of real-world implementation. Waldorf’s holistic curriculum, which integrates humanities, STEM, art, and athletics, helped me develop the creative and critical-thinking skills I rely on to make an impact in an ever-changing world.”– Brandon
Felix Arwen (Linden Waldorf School ’15) is a Softgoods Engineering Technologist at NASA.

From the Linden Waldorf School:
Felix vividly remembers his physics main lesson block in middle school at Linden Waldorf School, when the classroom was completely blacked out, and students observed the effect of a single pinhole of light entering the room. Experiments like these gave him a deep appreciation for how the world works, providing a “visual demonstration and physical understanding” of complex concepts.

Felix continued to pursue art throughout high school, deepening his love of physics along the way. At the Rhode Island School of Design, he discovered industrial design and RISD’s unique connection with NASA. An internship at the Center for Design and Space Architecture led him to his current role as a Softgoods Engineering Technologist at NASA. Now, as part of NASA’s advanced suit team, Felix blends his passions for art and physics by designing and sewing the outermost layers of space suits. He was recently given his own lab to outfit and staff, focused on developing suits for the Moon and Mars, and now some of his Softgoods work is traveling to space on Artemis II—a mission that marks a new era in human space exploration.
Felix credits Waldorf for sparking his love of learning and teaching him how to learn.
Sarah Gillis (Shining Mountain Waldorf School ’12) made history in 2024 as one of the first non-government-employed individuals to complete a spacewalk. At that time, she was a Lead Space Operations Engineer and an astronaut on the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission. Sarah is now a Senior Advisor to the Administrator of NASA.
While in space, Gillis played her violin in an extraordinary performance accompanied by youth orchestras in countries around the globe. The thrilling rendition of Rey’s Theme (from Star Wars) was performed live for international audiences, including composer John Williams, watching from Earth.
Watch the Full Performance.