An Astronaut Lands at the GSB

Marcus Wandt, SEP ’26, has built his career by chasing challenges — from the Swedish Army’s elite paratrooper unit to test-flying fighter jets, and all the way to outer space. Conscripted into the Swedish military, Wandt chose the most demanding path available. “Word on the street was that the hardest, most challenging thing you could do was Airborne Rangers,” he says. “So I applied.” That characteristic drive led Wandt to become a fighter pilot, then a test pilot who took a new Saab aircraft on its inaugural flight, then one of 17 people selected for the European Space Agency from more than 22,500 applicants. In 2024, he spent 21 days aboard the International Space Station. “I would definitely go back,” he says. “It was magical.” Back on Earth, Wandt faced a new challenge. As Saab’s chief innovation officer, he went from piloting aircraft to steering an entire organization. To gain the necessary tools and perspective, he enrolled in the Stanford Executive Program. “I was hoping to get an understanding of how people in those roles think: what is important to them, and what they focus on,” he says. What Wandt didn’t expect was how much he’d learn from his fellow students. “It was good to have people from 39 different countries and all those different backgrounds giving different perspectives,” he says. For a leader responsible for strategy across a global business — and in an industry where a space station takes 15 countries to build — that breadth proved especially valuable. “If you have several perspectives and you synthesize them, you have a really good foundation.” Read the entire story here: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/news-history/astronaut-lands-stanford-gsb

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