A Queen’s alumnus is planning his return to space in 2018 to spend six months at the International Space Station.
This will be the third voyage into space for NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, PhD’95, but his first long-duration mission.
Dr. Feustel, who studied Geological Sciences at Queen’s, travelled aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009 and helped refurbish the Hubble Telescope. He journeyed on Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2011 and served as the mission’s lead space walker, logging more than 21 hours outside the spaceship.
Dr. Feustel has remained close to the university since graduating more than 20 years ago. He returned to campus last year to receive an honorary degree, and spoke to students and fellow alumni about his strong connections to Queen’s and Kingston.
“Both of our children were born at Kingston General Hospital, so in a way this is like their home – this is where it all started for us. In fact, I can look back on events that transpired here that are directly related to me being successful as an astronaut,” he told the Queen’s Gazette.
In 2014, he received the Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honour bestowed by the Queen’s University Alumni Association.
Dr. Feustel is slated to go into space in March 2018. If you want to follow his adventures on the International Space Station, he will be will posting updates on both Twitter and Instagram.
