NASA astronauts and flight director visit Purdue as part of homecoming astronaut reunion

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Neil Armstrong’s “one small step” on the moon in 1969 paved the way for generations of astronauts — Purdue graduating 25 of them — to explore the moon and space.

Fifty years later, a NASA flight director and 13 other astronauts made their way back to their alma mater as featured guests during this week's Homecoming festivities, as Purdue’s “150 years of Giant Leaps” series draws to a close.

Thirteen astronauts – twelve who have flown with NASA and one commercial astronaut— are part of the reunion from Oct. 10-12 where they spent a few days speaking to Purdue classes, visiting local schools, touring campus and on Saturday will hold a public meet and greet. That will conclude the weekend by being recognized on the field during halftime at Purdue’s homecoming football game against the University of Maryland.

Friday, NASA flight director Gary Horlacher and astronauts Andrew Feustel and Loral O’Hara spoke on the value of their education and experiences at Purdue and their thoughts on the status of current and future space exploration.

NASA Flight director and mission operations director Gary Horlacher

Horlacher earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Purdue in 1989 and currently is a flight director and missions operations directorate for NASA. His time at NASA has been spent with his feet planted firmly on Earth, acting as the flight director for five shuttles and the lead on seven missions. Most recently, he has been the current assistant to the chief for exploration and the lead flight director for future missions to the moon.

Going to the moon is a reality that NASA hopes to reach by 2024, Horlacher said. It will be complicated — NASA must acquire new techniques to get aircraft built, tested and flying to the moon by that time — but a goal he is proud to be a part of.

“It’s impressive and really awesome that the energy has been put back into the agency,” Horlacher said. “We have this aggressive goal, everyone is working hard to meet it and we’re working hand in hand with industry to make it happen.”

He said that along with the near-return to the moon, humans will make it to Mars in his lifetime, predicting a mission within the next 10 to 20 years.

“It’s going to happen, really as a function of will and desire: either the government forcing function through NASA or through commercial space companies, which we have been strategically helping to build.”

NASA Astronaut Andrew Feustel

Feustel earned a bachelor’s degree in solid earth sciences and a master’s in geophysics in 1991 from Purdue and ranks third all-time among astronauts for time spent on spacewalks, with a career total of 226 days in space and 61 hours and 48 minutes over nine spacewalks.

Those spacewalks are typically very well-rehearsed, he said, although nothing prepared him for realizing he was able to fall asleep in his suit during a spacewalk or going blind by getting sweat or soap in his eyes. But he was never ready to experience the beauty of the unobstructed view of Earth.

“It’s always amazing to me how spectacular the view of Earth is and how different the experience of the view is from a spacesuit compared to what you see inside the spacecraft itself,” Feustel said.

Although he said he will not be returning to the International Space Station to complete a spacewalk anytime soon, he sees the future of space exploration to be more important than ever.

“What’s going to be important for us as humans is the ability to live and work in space permanently,” Feustel said. “Technology in space travel … all of that is catching up with our intentions, which is to live and work in space. That’s going to be our future.”

As the commercial space industries, such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, become increasingly more involved with space travel and exploration, Feustel believes they will develop business models that will allow humans to work and build economies based on space and space exploration.

NASA Astronaut Candidate Laurel O’Hara

O’Hara earned her master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue in 2009. She completed her two-year training in 2019 and is assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office currently awaiting her first flight assignment.

It was always her goal to be an astronaut, an idea she said was consistently in the back of her mind studying at Purdue, although she believed the chances were slim. But in 2017, she defied the self-imposed odds and became a part of NASA’s 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class, where she spent two years training in five areas: extra vehicular training/spacewalk training at the neutral buoyancy lab at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, flight readiness training in a T-38 jet, work learning and studying the Russian language, robotics training and training on the International Space Station’s systems.

Like Feustel and Horlacher, O’Hara also sees the value that commercial space companies are bringing to the future of space travel and exploration. These companies, like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, give transportation for cargo to the International Space Station, which in turn allows NASA to focus on more long-term projects, like returning to the moon or landing on Mars.

Going to the moon as her first mission would be “very exciting,” O’Hara said, but she would be happy receiving any flight assignment. Attending Purdue’s homecoming as a featured astronaut is her first event of this type since completing her training.

“I’m able to meet everybody and hear the stories over the years, both of coming back to Purdue for these reunions and of the space program,” O’Hara said. “They’re welcoming me, teaching me the ropes and saying good luck.”

IF YOU GO: The public is welcome to attend a meet-and-greet with the 14 astronauts during their reunion Oct. 12 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Homecoming Tent Row, near the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Pre-signed headshots of the astronauts will be distributed as well as commemorative posters and buttons, while supplies last. The astronauts will also be recognized on the field during the halftime of the Purdue football game against Maryland.

Emily DeLetter is a news reporter for Journal & Courier. Contact her at (765)420-5205 or via email at edeletter@jconline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @EmilyDeLetter.