Meghan Holden

mholden@jconline.com

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue University alumnus is returning to space for the third time.

NASA this week announced Andrew Feustel will go aboard the International Space Station next year. He'll launch in March 2018 and serve as a flight engineer on Expedition 55, then later as commander of Expedition 56.

Feustel won't be the only Purdue graduate in the space station. Alumnus Scott Tingle is also going on missions to the International Space Station in September 2017 and March 2018.

But of the 23 Purdue alumni who have become astronauts, Feustel is the first graduate who received his degree from the College of Science. In 1989, he earned his bachelor's degree in solid Earth sciences and later received his master's in geophysics.

"He is a science graduate and we are really proud of that fact," said Indrajeet Chaubey, professor and head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Feustel has remained heavily engaged with Purdue and has come back to visit many times, Chaubey said, noting he's met with Purdue students and local elementary and high schools during his visits.

"He really has been an inspiration to our next generation of scientists," Chaubey said.

In 2009, Feustel flew on the space shuttle Atlantis for the final servicing mission of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, according to his NASA biography. He first went to the International Space Station in 2011 as a member of the STS-134 crew on the space shuttle Endeavour’s final mission. He has logged more than 25 days in space, including 42 hours in spacewalks.

Contact J&C higher education reporter Meghan Holden at mholden@jconline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @MeghanHolden.

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