Purdue News

August 4, 2000 Purdue alumnus chosen for astronaut training WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue University alumnus is among the latest crop of likely NASA astronauts. Andrew J. Feustel, 34, was among the 17 men and women selected for the astronaut candidate class of 2000, and will begin training later this month at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. If all goes well, he will become an astronaut within two years, said Eileen Hawley, a NASA spokesperson. No astronaut candidate has ever flunked the training. However, that does not mean that candidates are guaranteed to become astronauts, Hawley said, noting that the training is demanding. "They spend a tremendous amount of classroom time and hands-on time learning for the better part of two years," she said. Feustel, a mission specialist, would be the 22nd Purdue graduate to become an astronaut and the first Purdue astronaut alumnus who is not an engineer. He earned a bachelor of science degree in solid earth sciences in 1989 and a master of science degree in geophysics in 1991, both from Purdue, and a doctoral degree in seismology from Queen's University in Canada in 1995. A native of Lancaster, Pa., Feustel lives in The Woodlands, Texas. Before entering the NASA training, he was a senior petroleum geophysicist at Exxon Exploration Co. in Houston. This year's astronaut class – seven pilots and 10 mission specialists – is made up of 14 men and three women. The astronaut candidates were selected through a highly competitive process that evaluated their education, training, experience and qualifications. NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: &nsbsp;You can access the NASA news release on the web. You also can download astronaut biographies. To the Purdue News and Photos Page