Blue Hills honors NASA astronaut Scott Tingle ’83

Scott Tingle celebrates the unveiling of the new display case at Blue Hills with family members & staff. (BHRTS photo)

As he prepares for another space mission, astronaut Scott Tingle returned home to Blue Hills Regional Technical School on Monday, August 25. The school unveiled a new display case in the lobby containing artifacts and memorabilia from his career in the military and at NASA.

As students return for class this week, they will be greeted by an eight-foot-by-nine-foot exhibit showcasing the career of Commander Scott Tingle.

The collection includes flight suits, photographs, a helmet and boots. Two other items on display — a model of the International Space Station and a wooden box — were both made by students at Blue Hills, and Tingle took the items with him on his journey to the multinational space laboratory in 2018.

Tingle, a Randolph native, graduated from Blue Hills in 1983 before moving on to UMass Dartmouth, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He went on to earn his master’s in the same subject from Purdue University and later became a U.S. Navy captain and pilot before ultimately becoming an astronaut, leading him to serve as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expedition 54/55.

“Commander Tingle’s story reminds our students that with hard work, determination and perseverance, there is no limit to what you can achieve,” said Blue Hills Superintendent-Director Jill Rossetti. “He has shown us that a path started right here at Blue Hills can quite literally take you out of this world.”

Tingle said he was honored by the display and he hopes it will inspire students at Blue Hills to achieve their dreams.

“Whether you’re on the battlefield or the football field, or if you’re in shop class or math class, or the floor of General Dynamics or the surface of the moon, Blue Hills Warriors will succeed through perseverance,” he said. “The folks who graduate here and become alumni embody that spirit — that spirit you all teach. I really appreciate you guys putting this all together and giving me the opportunity to participate, to give back and inspire future Warriors of our community.”

Tingle, who specialized in machine drafting while attending Blue Hills, said his time at the Canton-based school shaped him and the trajectory of his career.

“It really laid the groundwork for me for getting through college, the military and my career,” he said. “The people who teach here teach in reality. People who come out of this school come out with a good dose of reality. It’s where the rubber hits the road. That’s where I think the value added is here.”

Tingle, who currently lives in League City, Texas, was joined for the unveiling of the display case at Blue Hills by his wife, Raynette, his sister-in-law, Maureen, and his mother, Sheila.

“This school is absolutely superb,” Sheila Tingle said. “Scott’s younger brother took welding here. Later on, his employers always said to him, ‘Wherever you went to school, they taught safety.’ They really do a good job of teaching the students here. It was very influential on Scott. I can’t say enough.”

Tingle is now the commander of the Starliner-2 mission, preparing for another potential trip to space in 2026. If the mission goes ahead, Tingle will return to the International Space Station for six to eight months.

He was due to return to Texas last week to begin preparing for that mission, participating in simulator training, together with flight controllers, mission controllers and flight directors.

“They’ll throw tons of emergencies at us,” he said of the training. “They’ll break all kinds of systems and it’s up to the team to figure it out together if we can actually dock safely and make it happen.”

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=132399

Posted by Canton Citizen on Sep 5 2025. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.