Andrew J. Feustel

Andrew Jay "Drew" Feustel (/ˈfɔɪstəl/; born August 25, 1965) is an American geophysicist and a NASA astronaut. His first spaceflight in May 2009, STS-125, lasted just under 13 days. This was a mission with six other astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. Feustel performed three spacewalks during the mission. Following several years working as a geophysicist, Feustel was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000. His second spaceflight was STS-134, which launched on May 16, 2011 and landed on June 1, 2011; that mission was the penultimate Space Shuttle flight.

Feustel was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Lake Orion, Michigan, where he graduated from Lake Orion High School in 1983, and received an AS degree from Oakland Community College in 1985. He then attended Purdue University, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and received both a BS degree in Solid Earth Sciences (1989) and a MS degree in Geophysics (1991). He then moved to Ontario, Canada to attend Queen's University, where he received his PhD in Geological Sciences in 1995.

While attending community college, Feustel worked as an auto mechanic at International Autoworks, Ltd., Farmington Hills, Michigan, restoring 1950s Jaguars. At Purdue University, Feustel served as a Residence Hall Counselor for two years at Cary Quadrangle for the Purdue University Student Housing organization. His summers were spent working as a commercial and industrial glazier near his home in Michigan. During his Master‘s degree studies Feustel worked as a Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department of Purdue University. His M.S. thesis investigated physical property measurements of rock specimens under elevated hydrostatic pressures simulating Earth’s deep crustal environments. While at Purdue, Feustel served for three years as Grand Prix Chairman and team Kart driver for Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. In 1991, Feustel moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada to attend Queen’s University where he worked as a Graduate Research Assistant and Graduate Teaching Assistant. Feustel’s Ph.D. thesis investigated seismic wave attenuation in underground mines and measurement techniques and applications to site characterization.

For three years he worked as a Geophysicist for the Engineering Seismology Group, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, installing and operating microseismic monitoring equipment in underground mines throughout Eastern Canada and the United States. In 1997, Feustel began working for the Exxon Exploration Company (now ExxonMobil Exploration Company), Houston, Texas, as an Exploration Geophysicist designing and providing operational oversight of land, marine, and borehole seismic programs worldwide.

Feustel re-entering the International Space Station after the second spacewalk of the STS-134 mission.

After working in industry for five years, Feustel was selected as astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000. In August 2002, he began NASA's two-year training program, training as a mission specialist. He is currently assigned to the Astronaut Office Space Shuttle and Space Station Branches, where he has been serving in technical support assignments.

In July 2006, Feustel served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 10 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for seven days. In October 2006, Feustel was announced as a crew member for STS-125, the final Hubble servicing mission by the Space Shuttle. STS-125 launched on May 11, 2009.

STS-125

Feustel's first mission was STS-125, which was successfully launched to repair the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11, 2009. On this mission, Feustel was a Mission Specialist, and performed three spacewalks to help repair the telescope itself. During the mission, Feustel accumulated a total EVA time of twenty hours and thirty eight minutes.

STS-134

Feustel was a Mission Specialist on the STS-134 mission, during which he performed three more spacewalks. During this mission Feustel took a soft toy of the comic charakter Mole to space. In July 2011 Feustel and his family flew to Czech Republic to give that Mole to his creator the Czech animator and illustrator Zdeněk Miler. He was very happy and thanked Feustel with an artwork of him. Just four months later Miler died at the age of 90 years.

Expedition 55/56

Feustel will return to the ISS on 2018 for a long duration stay during Expedition 55\56. He will serve as a flight engineer on Expedition 55, and become the ISS commander of Expedition 56.

Feustel is married to Indira Devi Bhatnagar. Andrew and Indira met as undergraduates at the beginning of their mutual freshman year at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; they have two sons, Ari and Aden. He enjoys automobile restoration, skiing and guitar, and is a member of the astronaut band Max Q. He is also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.