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Now is my favorite part of the closing ceremonies.

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It's the part I look forward to every time I've been able to be a part of them.

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Each year the class nominates one of their peers for an almost impossible task:

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to somehow summarize the shared experiences and memories

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of the SSP participants during this session.

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To somehow crystalize nine weeks of experiences into just a few short minutes.

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This year the class selected very well.

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He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and physics and is entering the graduate

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program in astronautics and aeronautics at Stanford University this fall.

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Currently, he's working at NASA- Ames Research Center.

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His passion towards space is to encourage humanity's

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first permanent, off-world settlements. Please welcome Mr. Jonathan Connelly SSp '12 class speaker.

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Jonathan: Thank you for the introduction, Gary, and thank you, Administrator Bolden,

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for what's always an inspiring speech.

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I'd also like to thank the participants of the 2012 class of the SSP.

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It's been such an honor to be selected to speak on behalf of you,

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but it's been even more of an honor to have been a part of you this summer,

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to be there as we made memories together and worked and grew.

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To make sure that I represented that honor to the best of my ability,

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I thought I should talk to one of our distinguished mentors.

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I talked to Jim Burke over lunch and I was asking,

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Jim, what do you think I should say in my speech?

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I've been elected the class speaker, I really want to do a good job and

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Jim looks and me and he tells me, well, Jon,

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I think you should get up there and tell them how terrible ISU was.

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He said that would really get their attention.

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Even though I think Jim was joking, I thought, you know, let's go with it.

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So I think this is the part where I think people get a little bit worried.

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So, ISU has been terrible for me. Very, very terrible.

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And it's been especially bad for my English.

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I was in the cafeteria the other day and I was going to get a bag of potato chips to go with my sandwich,

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but I accidentally asked for crisps instead of chips. Really embarrassing.

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I think when I get home, I'm going to put a Facebook post saying

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elected to give class speech, has to follow Charlie Bolden.

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I'm going to grad school in the fall and I was really excited about getting back into classes

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after working a while but classes won't be the same without Earth balls and questions and

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flying koalas and hundreds and hundreds of slides of black text on white backgrounds.

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And finally, as a good Californian in the San Francisco Bay area,

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I drive a Prius, it's a hybrid car with good gas mileage so I usually

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end up driving when my friends go out for dinner or something so whenever

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I'm driving people now, I'm afraid I'm going to be yelling, "The Prius will be leaving in five minutes!"

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Seriously, though, but ISU has created some really amazing memories and one of the first ones

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that comes to mind is when you are able to see Atlantis as you pulled into the VAB for the last time.

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Enjoying the shadow when she passed overhead, when her wings momentarily blocked the hot

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Florida sun and for me, seeing those wings ahead and the shadow passing over me, it was like

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she was flying again, and it reminded me of what inspired me in my childhood.

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And of course we can't forget the two magnificent rocket launches that we saw.

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And you know, it's so interesting to watch a rocket launch because you're waiting and you're

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going through the count and you're listening intently for everything the launch director says

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and your heart stops because there's a hold and you finally get to that final moment when

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they're counting down three, two, one and you're focused on it so hard and you forget to

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breathe and you can hear something, but you don't hear it in your ears and you feel something

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in your chest pounding but it's not your heart, it's the vibrations of this living beast

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that's about to leave the planet and I have to think in those moments when

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I've watched a launch that I know what the astronauts feel when they're sitting on top,

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waiting to go into the void, when they're sitting on top of this pulsing, vibrating rocket.

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It's like a beast waiting to break free of invisible chains.

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Then it does break free and it ascends and it ascends higher and higher yet so quietly and

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peacefully as it touches space for the first time and it's just such a beautiful moment I

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can't wait to experience it for myself someday and I'm sure all of you will,

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but ISU has created some really strange memories as well.

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I never thought that I would be there on pad 39A watching the launch of My Little Rocket,

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especially with George Diller in the background with space unicorn playing.

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And I never thought that I would dance to Da Freakadien with our distinguished guests and

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lecturers and I've shared some really fun memories of me as well from going skydiving to

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flying a plane for the first time to having fun in the EVA pool and of course we can't forget

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the culture nights in the NPRD. We'll leave those stories for ourselves.

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And so even though tomorrow we go our separate ways, and we go back to the 31 countries that

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we call home, I'll remember you and I'll remember the times we've shared and the friendships

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we've built together over the past nine weeks.

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And I'll never forget that our destination is in the sky above.

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I've always love the phrase Ad Astra which is used so many times in the space industry.

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Ad astra means to the stars and it makes sense because we're going to the stars, right?

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But at ISU, I feel more connected to space than ever before

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and have to think there is something missing in that phrase.

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In our core lectures we've learned that we actually came from the stars, that the elements

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that form our bodies were forged in stellar furnaces,

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that the atoms in our body were strewn throughout the universe at unimaginable speed and

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distance and that even though as humans we were born here,

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as matter we were born out there in space in the stars.

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And so even though I don't speak Latin, I've been told that phrase should be reverte,

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ad astra which means return to the stars.

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And return to take our birthright, we will.

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We will do it together and as a species together with the voices of

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31 countries and six continents and we can overcome any challenge that faces us.

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And yes space is hard, and what we do takes years of effort and enormous resources and

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sometimes we lose, programs are cancelled and sometimes on terrible days lives are lost.

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But we're a relentless species. We take our resources and tools and we create amazing things.

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We take rocks and turn them into metal, we take sand and turn it into computers, we take

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water and turn it into rocket fuel and we put those things together and we're able to give

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ourselves new capabilities to fundamentally change what it means to be human.

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It's these things that make it an incredible time to be alive.

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Just imagine all the things that are going to happen during our long careers in space.

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We might see the first humans on Mars.

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I know that some of us will become astronauts, it's a lifelong passion.

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Some of us will get married and start families, we might have incredible successes in our careers.

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Whenever we achieve whatever it is that makes us happy, I know that we'll be there for each other.

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Even when the terrible moments do happen, when an accident occurs,

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or live takes a different turn and we feel lost I know that we'll be there for each other then, too.

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The friendships and relationships that we've created over the last

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nine weeks are strong and they unite us, even over global distances.

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You know, when you work in the space industry and you're in

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astronomical units all the time, a few thousand kilometers is no big deal.

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And so, space is incredibly large, but if space is truly infinite, then so are the possibilities within it.

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And together we'll build an incredible future, a future of infinite possibilities.

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So to close I really want all of us to be speaking together, and so I'll ask you that whenever

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I say a word, you respond in your native language.

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This will be with the participants and whoever else who wants to join in.

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So, for instance if I said hello, you would reply bonjour if you spoke french,

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or hola if you spoke spanish, etc.

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So if you will, turn to your neighbor, and hold their hand or put your arm around their

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shoulder or give them a smile, whatever it is that makes you comfortable (laughter)