VIEW FROM COLLEGEVILLE
Space Station mission broadens Vande Hei’s perspective By Dave DeLand When Mark Vande Hei ’89 took a look at Super Bowl 52 and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Feb. 4, he had a vantage point decidedly different from that of every other Minnesotan.
planet looking up through the atmosphere after having looked down on the atmosphere for so long,” said Vande Hei, who blasted off Sept. 12, 2017 from Kazakhstan and returned to Earth Feb. 28.
Vande Hei was 250 miles up.
“The biggest mountains don’t even show up on the horizon (from outer space). It’s very humbling.”
“I think I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around the view,” said Vande Hei, who in early February was looking down from space as Saint John’s University’s first astronaut during the final weeks of his 5½-month mission aboard the International Space Station. “It’s very humbling,” he said, “to see all of life as you know it look like it’s painted onto a flat surface.” You can see exactly what Vande Hei saw a little farther into this magazine (In Sight, Pages 18-19). The rest of his extraterrestrial experience? His insights paint a vivid picture. “The one lasting perspective change for me is being on the
“The Benedictine background is so firmly entrenched that it’s not something that takes conscious effort.”
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SUMMER/FALL 2018
Vande Hei shared his perspectives as featured speaker at the Saint John’s ROTC commissioning ceremony May 12. It was his first public speaking engagement since his space mission. He’s planning to share even more in May 2019, when Vande Hei is scheduled to be Saint John’s commencement speaker. “It’s a really neat time up on the Space Station because the whole team is completely focused on one thing,” he said. “We got a lot done.” Vande Hei took several slices of Saint John’s with him into space, including a stuffed Johnnie Rat and a small print from Genesis in The Saint John’s Bible.