Like all travelers, Drew Feustel struggled to stay away from home for 197 days.

The Michigan native had probably gone further than most, however. After returning to Earth last Thursday from the International Space Station, he thought, "Wow, it was really hard."

Feustel, commander of the expedition 56; Flight engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA; and flight engineer and Soyuz Cmdr. Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos made more than 3,100 bends around the Earth before landing in Kazakhstan in Central Asia at 7:44 am on Thursday.

Feustel's last trip into space – his third – was a little more difficult. His previous missions in 2009 and 2011 had lasted only two weeks, he said.

"The duration of the mission and the landing … was really difficult," said 53-year-old Feustel. "… I was just happy to be back in. The feeling of coming back, of gravity, of nausea takes time to overcome, but am more and more happy to be at home." "

Feustel, a native of Battle Creek who now lives in Houston, said he was delighted to accept this mission because he was missing in space.

"I missed looking at the Earth and seeing it pass, a view that you can only get 250 miles above the planet," said Feustel. "I watched every night the aurora borealis dancing, it was like a green curtain that went up to the space station.

"There's no better feeling than being in the space." I often looked out the window at sunrise – there are no words to describe it: Pastel blue, crimson red and bright red, incredible colors that you will never see from your eyes on Earth, "he said.

The crew has conducted more than 350 research and scientific experiments, including tests to help prepare for missions to travel farther from Earth. The team worked on ultra-cold quantum gas studies using the first European commercial microgravity research facility and a system that uses surface forces to achieve liquid-liquid separation.

Although he did not take the traditional route, Feustel always knew that he would work in the space program. After completing high school, he attended Oakland Community College, worked in a mechanics restoration workshop in Detroit and earned a Ph.D. from King's University College in Ontario.

Feustel said his favorite part of the mission was the spacewalks to perform maintenance and upgrades, such as replacing cameras and installing wireless communication antennas. He has accumulated 61 hours and 48 minutes in 9 outings in space and ranks second among American astronauts.

He said that he was living his dream, but his wife of 28 years, Indrina Feustel, and his two sons missed him.

"Every time we went to Texas and Michigan, I was thinking about the people I missed most, my family and friends, and I was missing my bed, my shower, and my fresh food," he said. . "The first thing I ate was a cheese sandwich with fluffy bread in the plane for Houston – it was delicious compared to the tortillas we ate everyday and as we got older."

Feustel could not take cherries from Michigan or Vernors with him, but he had brought with him jewels, trinkets and pictures of his wife. He said that he was grateful to be back in time to see a 24-year-old son before leaving for the Navy on Saturday and to help his other 22-year-old son. , to enroll in medical schools, especially at the University of Michigan.

In space, the crew tackled problems that developed in addition to the experiments.

"We had a small leak in the space station and a loss of air.We reacted quickly, isolated, clogged," said Feustel. "… there is always a risk that we will not come back.

"We are training in emergencies and we are getting ready on a regular basis, if necessary, which is the very nature of the work we do, we rely on the technical teams to support us and develop the technology to keep us alive."

Indrina Feustel said that they were "four happy from the happiest hearts on the planet" on her return.

"It's not easy to watch them go through everything they do," she said. "He did not do, not two, but three exits in this mission." I clung to my couch while watching a cup of tea while they were fulfilling their mission.For me, the biggest challenge is that I have trouble sleeping when it's not home. "

While he was in orbit, he participated in dozens of educational tuning video streams as part of NASA's Year of Education on station to inspire more of 200,000 students in 29 states.

"They are important because (students) can directly interview an astronaut about the work they are doing – some of them may not think of a career in space, but they may be inspired to set their goals, "he said. . "I wanted to inspire others to the idea that it was okay not to follow the traditional path."

At the end of Expedition 56, Feustel handed over command of the station to German astronaut Alexander Gerst, a flight engineer with the European Space Agency. He said that he was relaxing a bit before returning to NASA. There is no other mission planned.

"Time will tell," he said about another mission. "I'll do what I can, as long as I need it."

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