For the third time in his illustrious career, Queen’s alumnus Andrew Feustel (PhD’95) has been assigned to a NASA mission to space.

Dr. Feustel will launch to the International Space Station in March 2018 as part of Expedition 55. He will remain behind and take command of the station’s Expedition 56 crew, returning to Earth with the crew of Expedition 57. Dr. Feustel is scheduled to remain in orbit for six months.

Dr. Feustel was one of four distinguished alumni chosen as honorary degree recipients during the fall convocation ceremonies. In his address to the graduating class, he reflected on lessons learned during his career in geophysics and with the space program, and reminisced on his time spent in Kingston.

“While you’re at a university you don’t realize how unique and special that university can be,” he explained.  “Whether you realize it or not while you’re there, those experiences you have, the friends you meet, the colleagues you meet, the professionals you meet, all have a very significant impact on your life.”

Dr. Feustel joined NASA as part of the astronaut corps in 2000. His previous missions included the final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009 and the final flight of the shuttle Endeavour in 2011. He has maintained a close connection to Queen’s during his career, returning to campus multiple times and bringing a Queen’s banner with him to space on his 2009 mission.