“The [space station and submarine] environments are really similar, if you think about it. We’re sending human beings to live, work, and accomplish a mission in a place where human beings are not supposed to be living, whether that’s underneath the surface of the ocean, or in the vacuum of space. It’s a really complex thing to do. [Both environments] require life support equipment, but they also require the same kind of team. And I think that those parallels are things that really helped prepare me and actually give me the confidence even to apply to become an astronaut.
“No one person can be an expert in everything you need in order to succeed in these environments. And so, you really have to have a diverse team with diverse perspectives and experiences to be successful. And you have to know how to bring that team together to make good decisions in a time-constrained high-risk environment. So I find the environments really similar and really relied on that experience.
“But there are some differences, too. In the submarine, you have your whole crew with you, and you operate really independently. The crew is about 165 people and we’re all having the same experience. Whereas in space, only a small portion of the team is actually on the space station. And the majority of our team is on the ground and in our control centers. And they have different access to different information and perspectives, so that can be helpful, but also challenging to get the team aligned around a solution to a problem. So it’s just a little bit different.
“[As for which one I prefer,] I think the space station has windows, and a beautiful view, so it definitely has that benefit over a submarine.”
— Kayla Barron, Astronaut, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Image Credit: NASA
Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos