After six months spent orbiting the Earth, Andrew (Drew) Feustel (PhD’95) is now a back on solid ground. He touched down early Tuesday, Oct. 4, in a field in Kazakhstan.

During his time in zero gravity, the Queen’s alumnus became commander of the International Space Station (ISS) and helped carry out hundreds of research projects.

He also took some time to work on a creative project: a new song he wrote and recorded with fellow Queen’s alumnus Gord Sinclair (Artsci’86) of The Tragically Hip.

Listen to the original song and check out the perspective of an alumnus from the ISS.

The song focuses on world unity, love, and the perspective that comes with living thousands of feet above the Earth. Dr. Feustel provided his voice and guitar for the project and Mr. Sinclair wrote the lyrics and music. The astronaut and band have had a long camaraderie, and this is their first collaboration together.

The music video features footage of Earth from the ISS, Dr. Feustel on the ISS as he recorded the song, and scenes across the globe.

The song was one of the last projects for Dr. Feustel during his six-month research mission aboard the ISS. He returned to Earth on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7:45 am with no issues after a mission full of exciting events, like the In-Flight Education Downlink with Queen’s in April, a special Canada Day video with other Queen’s alumni, and research projects to study the effects of zero gravity.

As the latest Canadian in space, Dr. Feustel passes on the torch to the next Canadian astronaut, David Saint-Jacques, in December 2018.