 Hi, I'm Drew Foistel, Purdue graduate, 1989 and 1991, astronaut with a 23-year career at NASA. I'm here to answer the question, what does it take to become an astronaut? I can tell you from experience that there's no clear path. There's no one way that you get to become a NASA astronaut. There's no one educational path or industry experience path. I can tell you that I got here through perseverance and really just thinking about what I wanted to do in the long term, setting those goals and staying focused on those activities. I would recommend not following any specific path you think is going to make you an astronaut, but do the things that you love, do the things that you enjoy and follow your heart. That will lead you to success and that success will lead you to greatness and make you a better candidate for anything that you choose to do in life. Being an astronaut is a fantastic opportunity to explore and share science and knowledge with the rest of the world and inspire people to do great things. So I hope that you follow your dreams, do what you think is right, and be the best that you can to make yourself a candidate to be an astronaut and explore.