Vast Welcomes Veteran NASA Astronaut Dr. Andrew J. Feustel as Its Newest Human Spaceflight Advisor

December 12, 2023 at 09:01 AM EST

Vast, a pioneer in space habitation technologies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Andrew J. (Drew) Feustel as its newest advisor. Dr. Feustel is a veteran NASA Astronaut with 23 years of experience, most recently as NASA’s acting Chief Astronaut. Prior to that role, he served as the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office from 2020 to 2022. Dr. Feustel joins an esteemed list of advisors at Vast, which includes veteran NASA astronaut Dr. Garrett Reisman.

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Dr. Andrew J. Feustel; photo credit: NASA

Dr. Feustel’s spaceflight experience includes three space missions. In 2011, he flew on the penultimate Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-134. In 2009, he flew on the STS-125 Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. Most recently, in 2018, he flew on a Russian Soyuz rocket to the ISS, serving as Commander during Expedition 56 on a 197-day mission.

“I am honored to be collaborating with the dynamic team at Vast. They have a compelling vision for developing a private commercial space station in low-Earth orbit, and I plan to play a contributing role in reaching that significant milestone in human exploration,” said Dr. Feustel. “These efforts are critical for establishing a global human space economy, which will enable our species to explore further and further from our home planet.”

Dr. Feustel began his career in the Canadian mining industry and later worked at the ExxonMobil Exploration Corporation in Houston, Texas, as an exploration geophysicist before joining the NASA Astronaut Corps in 2000.

“We look forward to working with Drew on some key design trades where practical spaceflight and user experience is vital to guide our engineering teams, and utilize his wealth of knowledge executing our future crewed missions,” said Alex Hudson, CTO.

Dr. Feustel holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University specializing in Seismology. He also holds a Master of Science in Geophysics and a Bachelor of Science in Solid Earth Sciences from Purdue University, and an Associate Science degree from Oakland Community College.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Feustel to our team and look forward to learning from his expansive spaceflight experience,” said Max Haot, CEO.

For those interested in learning more about Vast-1 mission availability and future missions, please visit https://www.vastspace.com/reserve.

ABOUT VAST

Vast is a pioneer in space habitation technologies focused on expanding humanity across the solar system. Founded in 2021, the company is assembling a world-class team to build the world’s first low-cost, artificial gravity crewed station so people can live and work in space for long periods of time without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. http://www.vastspace.com