The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced Thursday, Aug 18, that a new crew of four volunteers will soon embark on a mission to the Martian moon Phobos without leaving Earth.
According to NASA’s press release, on August 26, Erin Anderson, John Donehoo, Susan Hilbig, and Stephanie Navarro will enter the Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Once inside, they will live and work like astronauts for 45 days. They will “return” to Earth by stepping outside HERA on Oct. 10.
NASA’s Human Research Program, or HRP, pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, and the International Space Station, HRP scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives HRP’s quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as space travel expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
This crew marks the fourth group of volunteers to participate in HERA’s research campaign. The most recent mission ended on July 11. The first mission of this campaign ended on Nov. 15, 2021.
HERA enables researchers to study how crew members adjust to isolation, confinement, and remote conditions on Earth before NASA sends astronauts on deep-space missions.
To help researchers learn about crew behaviors, the crew carries out various science and maintenance tasks inside HERA, such as testing augmented reality and monitoring their mock environment. Crew members also face increasing communication delays with their ground control support staff outside their habitat as they “approach” Phobos. Delays can last up to 5 minutes each way.
These activities help researchers design strategies for crew members to work as a team and communicate effectively to accomplish mission tasks. With this data, scientists can develop strategies to better prepare astronauts for Artemis missions to the Moon, and eventually for ventures to Mars.
Stephanie Navarro is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. She has more than a decade of prior enlisted service in the Air National Guard during which time she deployed in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel to help provide secure communication capabilities in the Middle East. She began her civilian career as an information technology specialist for the U.S. Army, providing systems engineering for data-center modernization efforts in Hawaii.
Navarro earned her Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Central Florida, Orlando. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she served the constituents of Florida as a congressional intern for both the U.S. House and Senate.
She’s working toward a master’s degree in engineering, focused on cybersecurity policy and compliance, from George Washington University.
A native of Miami, Navarro enjoys spending most of her free time outdoors, preferably at the beach or in the air flying a Cessna 172.
Erin Anderson is a structural engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia and lives in nearby Hampton. Her work focuses on manufacturing and building what are known as composite structures — using materials engineered to optimize strength, stiffness, and density — that fly in air and space.
Originally from Aurora, Illinois, Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013. After graduating, she worked as a structural engineer for The Boeing Company on NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, in Huntsville, Alabama. Anderson moved to New Orleans in 2016 to support the assembly of the first core stage of the SLS at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. After a brief time as a composite and test engineer in the wind energy industry, Anderson completed a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, in 2020. She started her current job in 2021, continuing her research on carbon-fiber composites.
John Donehoo, from Freedom, Pennsylvania, is a licensed pharmacist with more than 20 years of clinical experience in areas of ambulatory care, long-term care, retail pharmacy, and the pharmaceutical industry. He graduated from Duquesne University School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh.
For 11 years, Donehoo worked at a large outpatient clinic, where he established and operated a pharmacist services program. Donehoo now works for Alosa Health, a non-profit company, in Pittsburgh, providing evidence-based support to healthcare providers tackling opioid use disorder. He also works part-time for Space Commerce Matters as a senior advisor in life sciences and pharmaceuticals, while serving as a chairperson for the Mars New Year Festival held in Mars, Pennsylvania.
He led a research project with a multi-university team, testing the medications that flew aboard Inspiration4 — the first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth. He is preparing a pharmaceutical research study for the upcoming Polaris Dawn civilian spaceflight mission.
Donehoo served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a squad leader in anti-tank warfare, with deployments to Okinawa, Thailand, South Korea, and combat operations during Desert Storm. He has a passion for space, mainly in the areas of human health and performance. Donehoo enjoys solving problems that will help advance human spaceflight while encouraging and helping others to become involved in the future of space travel.
Susan Hilbig, from Durham, North Carolina, is a physician assistant with a focus on aerospace medicine and human performance in isolated, confined environments. She completed her academic training at North Carolina’s Duke University and is poised to begin the emergency medicine PA residency program at Duke after HERA Campaign 6 Mission 4.
Hilbig double majored in biology and Earth and ocean science before proceeding to earn her master’s degree in from Duke University School of Medicine. Her passion for exploration led her to pursue research at remote field sites as an undergraduate, taking her across the world for various projects. Most notably, she traveled to the village of Tsinjoarivo, Madagascar, where she collected data on wild populations of the only lemur known to hibernate.
Hilbig has previous experience with simulated extreme environments in hyperbaric chambers for the research team at Duke Dive Medicine. She also spent years leading weeklong cycling tours in Europe, with a regional focus on the Balkans and Northern Italy. Hilbig continues to be an avid cyclist and triathlete, as well as a general outdoor enthusiast who enjoys hiking, swimming, scuba diving, and aviation.
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