After Record Space Journey, Vande Hei Looks to the Future

SJU Grad Vande Hei Considers What’s Next After Record-Breaking Space Journey

By Kevin Allenspach

Imagine living and working in quarters the size of a six-bedroom house for 355 consecutive days. And you can’t go outside, because that first step is a doozy. The International Space Station is 250 miles above Earth, something Saint John’s University graduate Mark Vande Hei ’89 never touched between April 9, 2021 and March 30, 2022. He orbited 5,680 times at more than 17,500 mph, and just about every day began with meditation while looking out from a quiet spot in the observation cupola before the other astronauts were awake. This was how he reached one new frontier while contemplating another. Vande Hei set a U.S. record for longest continuous space flight and, combined with his first mission four years earlier, spent 523 of 1,600 days off the planet before he touched down in Kazakhstan at the epicenter of global tensions ignited by the war in Ukraine. Long before then, he promised his wife, Julie, he would never blast off again. Mark turns 56 on Nov. 10 and, despite no immediate plans to leave NASA – for which he has worked since 2006 – it was time to determine his next challenge. For someone who craves backpacking and watersports, perhaps it’s no surprise he’s spent as much time as possible outdoors since his return. He and Julie embarked on a six-week trip during the summer. It included living in a tent on a ferry as it traveled the intercoastal waterway to Alaska, where they stopped to hike the glaciers around Juneau, and whitewater rafting in Montana with a group of friends from his days at Saint John’s. And this fall, Mark’s enrolled in a month-

long intensive program in Wyoming to become a wilderness emergency medical technician.

Likely no one in American history has had a more serious case of cabin fever.

“It’s an indoor job,” Vande Hei said of life on the International Space Station. “You don’t get to go outside without lots and lots of preparation. That was the biggest challenge for me. But I realized that if I spent a lot of time worrying about

the future and thinking ‘My goodness, I’m having a rough day and I have nine months to go,’ focusing on the lack, what you haven’t achieved yet, can make it really challenging.”

“He was just a kid from the Cities, like so many that we have, but now I look at our students and wonder ‘Who’s going to be the next one?”

Resilience Formed at Collegeville

Without a past that included Saint John’s, where Vande Hei came to study physics in the fall of 1985, he wouldn’t have overcome astronomical odds to be an astronaut, serving as a test subject for long-term space exposure. Arriving as a graduate of BenildeSt. Margaret’s in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, he helped pay for his education with an ROTC scholarship. He captained the Saint John’s Fighting Saints Battalion Ranger Challenge Team, prelude to myriad commendations he would earn in the Army. “He said ‘Yes’ to basically any challenge that was presented to him – and he completed them,” recalled Thomas Kirkman, professor emeritus of physics and one of Vande Hei’s instructors. “He was at the top of his class in ROTC, so I think we always expected he would have a really good military career. “He had this attitude that he was going to climb that mountain. Whatever it was, he was going to do it.” Vande Hei has good company. One of his peers went on to become a professor of medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Subsequent SJU and College of Saint Benedict grads have followed not only his path to NASA but also work in support of the space station. Aric Katterhagen ’96 became a lead operations engineer, coordinating the use of free-flying robots. Chris Roberts ’05 is a cold stowage project engineer, and Nicole Kessler ’08 for four years was a flight controller based in Houston before eventually returning to Minnesota and a position as a research planning analyst with Xcel Energy. But there’s something about Vande Hei that was special for Dean Langley, who has taught physics at CSB and SJU since 1987. His first class included Vande Hei, then a junior. “I think whether Mark became an astronaut or not, I still would’ve remembered him as a hard-working, bright fellow,” Langley said. “I was

Mark Vande Hei engaged Saint Benedict in an astronomic discussion during a visit to Saint John’s University in 2019.

impressed that he continued at a high level in physics. It’s remarkable that he could do all the physical things he needed to be successful in the Army, but he also put in a lot of time studying and to reach the level he did.”

Vande Hei served as a combat engineer, earned his master’s in applied physics at Stanford, taught at West Point and eventually rose to be a colonel. Three years after he became a capsule communicator at Mission Control in Houston, he was among nine candidates who beat out 99.7 percent of their competition to form the 2009 astronaut class.

“He was just a kid from the Cities, like so many that we have, but now I look at our students and wonder ‘Who’s going to be the next one?’” Kirkman said. “I assume there are Mark Vande Heis in this year’s freshman class, just like he was in the room behind me 35 years ago.”

Launch Base at SJU

Whether in low orbit or on the ground, Vande Hei can close his eyes and see the forests and lakes surrounding Saint John’s. He remembers the winters, when snow and wind provided frigid conditions for drills – or even running between classes. Succeeding there, he said, sparked a confidence that led to his later achievements.

“It’s a community where you know people are going to try to do the right thing – not just for themselves but for the greater group,” Vande Hei said. “It’s a very strong foundation. “I definitely value the liberal arts education I got. I think Saint John’s really helped me with feeling comfortable that there’s more than one way to look at things. Being able to do that is very valuable, and I can respect that in other people.” That respect goes both ways in those who know him best. Marty O’Brien ’89 migrated from Benilde to Saint John’s with Vande Hei, and their dorm rooms were across the hall from each other.

“He was a little more serious than some of us,” said O’Brien, whose roommate, Mike Hoffman, was another Benilde graduate who attended Vande Hei’s first launch in 2017. “We were all impressed by Mark for a long time, and that was before he became an astronaut. In spite of all the accomplishments, he’s always been like the nicest guy in the world. That’s a little hyperbole, but not much.” About five years after he left SJU, Mark and Julie met in Colorado Springs. He

was stationed nearby, and she’d sworn she would never date anyone in the military. “Fate has a way of playing with you,” Julie said. “We were both rock climbers and we sat next to each other at a party. I walked over to him and said ‘Hey, let’s go ski.’ That was history. We were really compatible and got along well.” They married in 1995 and had twins Lauren and Gabe, who are now 24. She’s an EMT in Sequim, Washington; he’s a cyber security software engineer in Arlington, Virginia. Military life made Mark’s extended absences common, something that prepared Julie – if not others – for his record trip in space. But perhaps nothing would have readied her for the anxiety of early 2022.

He spent time in orbit contemplating his purpose and what is next.

Thrust Into Global Spotlight

With Mark’s return scheduled for late March, traveling in the same Soyuz capsule with Russian crew members Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, apprehension snowballed through January and February as to whether international politics would jeopardize Vande Hei’s safety. Russia threatened to invade Ukraine before actually doing so on Feb. 24, and it didn’t take long before Julie, Lauren and Gabe were buried in an avalanche of speculation. Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, whose record for longest space flight was broken by Vande Hei, got into a Twitter fight with Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin. On March 10, Rogozin posted a video that suggested Vande Hei would be abandoned in space as retaliation for U.S. sanctions.

Mark, whose days were choreographed to not waste a single moment while working on experiments or maintaining

the ISS, was somewhat shielded from the disturbance as it related to him – though he and the cosmonauts were well aware of the conflict unfolding in Eastern Europe. “Russian broadcasts have a very different perspective on the events in Ukraine, but they’re just as convincing as the news we receive,” said Mark, who spent months in Russia preparing for both flights and understands what his cohorts see and hear. “I really think what we’re running into is that there are lots of facts available, and people can go ahead and report them, but you can tell very different stories by which facts you choose to report. Then there are times when things aren’t facts. They’re just wrong, and that was when I would ask pointed questions. Conversations kind of ended quickly. “The biggest emotional takeaway for me from that situation was how affected we are by our information sources. That’s not unique to international relations. It’s something that effects every one of us as citizens.”

Friends, acquaintances, media and even strangers began to ask Julie questions for which she had no answer. She and

Mark spoke almost daily via an internet protocol phone, but she tried to keep those short conversations light until the weekends, when he had down time and they could communicate via longer video conferences. Then, she was unable to hide her stress.

“People were coming at me out of a place of love, and I appreciated that, but I had news agencies and people I didn’t know very well and neighbors – lots of people trying to understand whether Mark was safe and what’s the plan?” Julie said. “I think NASA was trying to figure it out, too. I felt like I was an island, and Mark had such a different perspective that he felt everything was fine.” It was, and it wasn’t. He had access to email, but often only for a cursory glance at the subject line. He was oblivious to social media and actually laughed the first time she told him about the video and the hypothesizing that he was in danger. Eventually, he realized Julie’s emotional state, became a good listener and legitimized her concerns – which he said were the hardest part of the situation for him.

Julie, meanwhile, felt increasing stress until a “high-level source at NASA who works with Russia” contacted her. He explained plans A, B and C for how to extract Mark and maintained regular check-ins via text. Thereafter, she felt confident but not relaxed until after a 20-person team extricated her husband from Kazakhstan to Germany and ultimately home.

Vande Hei taking time for reflection in the observation deck.

New Perspective

Vande Hei and Dubrov were together all 355 days on their latest space flight. Shkaplerov and another Russian, Oleg Novitsky, flew with Vande Hei for almost six months each. He said nothing has changed as far as his respect for and friendship with them since he returned.

“My hope is this longstanding, very successful collaboration continues to be a way for us to come back to good relations between us and the Russians – regardless of what’s going on,” Mark said. Julie said Mark is a very “othercentered” person, and she appreciated how he always gave her a say in their plans. “He’d say, ‘What do you think, Jules?’ … but many times we’ve held a phone for him while we’re watching a significant event – marriages or sending his kids off to college,” she said. “It’s tiresome, and this time he was up there for a year, and it was a sacrifice our family agreed to make. But on the other hand, one of the things I said to him is that I think that’s enough. Life is calling us to do some other things.” He spent time in orbit contemplating his purpose and what is next. He feels a strong pull to protect the natural environment and doubtless will use public speaking engagements to deliver that message. “I think a lot of astronauts who have looked at the planet from outside the atmosphere feel the same way,” he said. “The Earth is massive. It’s tremendously large, but there’s a very finite layer that we live in and that’s just on the surface … I would love to dedicate time to raise awareness of that and pay more attention to the things we do and how they affect the environment. We need to live in a more sustainable way, and maybe a less comfortable way. But then we’re going to leave more for subsequent generations.”

Nicol Bridge Links Campus to Seton Townhomes

Photo by Paul Bienek

The new Saint John’s bridge to Flynntown, completed summer of 2022, has been named after benefactors Tom and Elizabeth Nicol.

Nicol Bridge provides students with convenient access to the new Seton Townhomes, which also were completed this summer, and additionally underscores the ongoing generosity of Tom and Elizabeth.

Tom Nicol, a 1991 Saint John’s graduate, is a member of the Common Boards of Trustees at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. Previously, he served as a student trustee in 199091, an Alumni Association representative to the SJU Board of Trustees from 2010-15 and member of the SJU board from 20152021.