World Record Commander

Dr. Michaela Musilova has been the Commander of over 30 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars, which is the most missions led to date worldwide. She performed these missions in collaboration with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and many other space organizations and companies around the world. 

She led these missions at the LunAres station in Poland; the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert, USA; on a boat simulating a space mission (using scuba diving gear instead of spacesuits); and at the HI-SEAS station on the active volcano Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Michaela was the Director of HI-SEAS for several years, where she organized over 40 simulated missions to the Moon and Mars. Some of her unique experiences include, for example, leading a para-astronaut mission to help make space missions and the space sector more accessible to people with disabilities. 

 

During her missions, Michaela performed a wide variety of research, ranging from projects with a focus on psychology, food-related research, growing food on Mars, all the way to testing many technologies and exploring lava caves for architectural studies. Her astrobiology research included working with NASA, several universities and Honeybee Robotics to help prepare for the search for alien life on Mars. Michaela also tested rovers for use on the Moon or Mars from numerous international companies. They involved a rover from Michaela’s home country Slovakia too. Furthermore, Michaela always made sure to include a number of student projects and outreach activities as part of her simulated space missions.