Speaker Bios

In 1992 he was selected to join NASA's Astronaut Corps and eventually flew 5 Space Shuttle missions and conducted 7 spacewalks. Mission highlights include a global ozone mapping flight; leading the first joint US-Russian spacewalk while docked to the Russian space station Mir; serving as Senator John Glenn's crewmate and "personal physician"; and assembly of the Canadian-built space station robotic arm. 

In October 2007, he led the spacewalking team on STS-120, during which he performed 4 EVAs. The final EVA is regarded by many as one of the most challenging and dangerous ever performed. The tremendous coordinated effort in orbit and on the ground by Mission Control has been likened to the Space Shuttle and Space Station era's "Apollo 13 moment." He was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2016. 

In addition to being a diver and accomplished mountaineer, Dr. Parazynski is also a commercial, instrument, multiengine and seaplane-rated pilot. On May 20, 2009, he became the first astronaut to stand on top of the world, the summit of Mount Everest. As a life-long explorer, he and a colleague set the first bootprints adjacent the world’s youngest lava lake, inside the crater of Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. 

He is a prolific inventor/product developer, and serves on the Boards of several companies. He is Founder and CEO of OnwardAir, focused on the development of revolutionary electric aircraft (e-VTOL) and advanced human-machine interfaces designed to control everything from surgical robotics to spacecraft.

Dr. Varanoske is also the exercise lead for the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), a study designed to examine resource constraints and consequences associated with a year-long Mars surface analog mission by investigating changes in performance, physiology, behavior, immune function, and cognition. Additionally, she is responsible for assessing exercise countermeasure risks associated with NASA design reference missions as well as providing subject matter expertise regarding the efficacy of exercise countermeasures for protecting astronaut health on NASA programs (i.e., ISS, Artemis, Orion, Gateway).

Dr. Varanoske is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and holds a certificate in Advanced Quantitative Methodologies in Educational and Human Sciences. She also currently serves on the editorial board for Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (MSSE), the American College of Sports Medicine’s (ACSM) flagship journal. Prior to working at NASA, Dr. Varanoske was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Military Nutrition Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) and was subsequently a research fellow in the Military Performance Division at USARIEM. Her research primarily focused on investigating pharmacological and nutritional interventions to sustain Warfighter health, performance, and resiliency during strenuous operations, encompassing principles of exercise physiology, nutritional science, and human metabolism. She has been involved the design and execution of several federally funded studies in the areas of aerospace physiology and military nutrition and performance.

Dr. Varanoske earned her Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology and M.S. in Applied Exercise Physiology, both from the University of Central Florida, where she was a Research Assistant in the Human Performance Laboratory as well as a Teaching Associate, Teaching Assistant, and Adjunct Instructor. Throughout her time at UCF, her research focused on implementing nutritional supplementation strategies for optimizing physical performance, evaluating associations between performance and skeletal muscle biology, physiology, and morphology, using blood and muscle biomarkers to determine the efficacy of exercise and nutritional interventions, and methodological considerations for improving the validity of skeletal muscle morphological data.

Dr. Varanoske earned her B.S. from the University of Connecticut in Exercise Science, with minors in Biology and Nutrition for Exercise and Sport. Dr. Varanoske is a member of the ACSM, the NSCA, and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). She has published over 70 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and abstracts presented at national and international meetings and has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships for her work.

Brian holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology from Texas A&M University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Arlington in Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology, respectively with a research focus in Applied Biomechanics, and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He also currently serves as a Risk Custodian for the muscle and aerobic deconditioning risks carried by NASA’s Human Systems Risk Board and is the Exercise Discipline Scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program.

The EPC team supports NASA’s human health and performance objectives for spaceflight in three primary areas: technology development, applied research, and exercise Subject Matter Expert (SME) support to human spaceflight program operations. The team’s overarching objective is to protect astronaut health and performance by understanding the mechanisms and consequences of spaceflight deconditioning in order to characterize mission risk as well as to optimize exercise countermeasure systems and interventions. Current efforts within the lab include the evaluation and certification of exercise systems designated for Artemis Lunar exploration missions; development of exercise system requirements for the Lunar pressurized rover vehicle; spaceflight and terrestrial research on the dose-response relationship of both spaceflight exposure as well as exercise interventions; development and implementation of standardized in-flight health and performance assessments; development of novel countermeasure technologies and strategies for optimizing astronaut health and performance outcomes.

As a member of the Star City Medical Support Group, he has supported USOS astronaut training activities in Star City, Russia for extended periods since joining the NASA team in 2015. In 2019 Dr. Pattarini was named the lead physician for Artemis Human Landing System development, and he now serves as the Program Medical Officer for both HLS and the Lunar Gateway station. In addition to his Artemis program support roles, Dr. Pattarini also provides Crew Dragon launch/landing support as a console operator at SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, CA.

Originally from Upstate New York, his educational background includes a B.S. in Evolutionary Biology from Syracuse University and an M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed a combined Internal Medicine/Aerospace Medicine residency program at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), where he received a Master of Public Health in 2013, and served as Chief Resident of the Internal Medicine Program prior to joining NASA in 2015. He holds board certifications in both specialties, and maintains clinical faculty privileges at a number of local hospitals in the greater Houston area. In addition to his ISS and Artemis program support duties, Dr. Pattarini currently serves as medical operations lead physician for occupant protection and dynamic loads.

Formerly a Concorde and Boeing 747 engineer, fulfilling numerous roles from commercial industrial instructor, accident investigator, Chairman of British Airways Engineering fleet H&S committee to lead business analyst: And as an exercise and rehabilitation specialist, co-owns an exercise rehabilitation centre in London, England; where they specialise in working with pre and post operative patients, conditioning sports people, to older clients with musculoskeletal issues, including osteoporosis; John is a university lecturer of anatomy, kinesiology, sports injuries and sports psychology. As Managing Director of Physical Mind London (PML) based in the UK, John independently designed and built HIFIm: and, working alongside with engineering partners, movie special effects company 2EFX (makers of Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Bond and Oscar winners for the movie 1917) - together they manufacture HIFIm to the specifications and needs of space agencies and private companies. HIFIm has become the United Kingdom’s flagship exercise countermeasure: The European Space Agency, European Astronaut Centre have all supported John and his HIFIm team, with ESA allocating all their astronaut time in zero gravity flight testing to the HIFIm team - a first in the history of ESA. John is superbly supported by the UK Space Agency, awarding 5 grants to PML; enabling two full parabolic flight campaigns, six zero gravity flights, delivering over 180 parabolas and more than 70 minutes of successfully testing HIFIm in zero gravity, enabling two world firsts and proving HIFIm is a space flight ready countermeasure. To date, John and his PML partners have been awarded a total of $3,700,000.00 USD in research funding. John recently lead PML to be awarded a $2,300,000.00 USD grant from the Canadian and UK Space Agencies, forging an International Bilateral agreement using HIFIm and collaborating on CSA’s C2M2 Lunar habitat programme. John has recently been made an Honorary Fellow at Salford University, Manchester in England.

Personal

Born in 1978 in Farmington, Connecticut, and raised in Napa, California, where her father, Jim, still resides. Her mother, Ann Hallisey resides in Davis, California. She enjoys running, cycling, swimming, flying, scuba diving and reading.

Education

Graduated from Vintage High School in 1996, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego, in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology in 2005 from Stanford University Medical School Biochemistry Department and Microbiology and Immunology Department.

Experience

Dr. Rubins conducted her undergraduate research on HIV-1 integration in the Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She analyzed the mechanism of HIV integration, including several studies of HIV-1 Integrase inhibitors and genome-wide analyses of HIV integration patterns into host genomic DNA. She obtained her Ph.D. from Stanford University and, with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rubins and colleagues developed the first model of smallpox infection. She also developed a complete map of the poxvirus transcriptome and studied virus-host interactions using both invitro and animal model systems. Dr. Rubins then accepted a Fellow/Principal Investigator position at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (MIT/Cambridge, Massachusetts) and headed a lab of 14 researchers studying viral diseases that primarily affect Central and West Africa. She traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to conduct research and supervise study sites. Work in the Rubins Lab focused on poxviruses and host-pathogen interaction as well as viral mechanisms for regulating host cell mRNA transcription, translation and decay. In addition, she conducted research on transcriptome and genome sequencing of filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg) and Arenaviruses (Lassa Fever) and collaborative projects with the U.S. Army to develop therapies for Ebola and Lassa viruses. Dr. Rubins has published and presented her work in numerous papers at international scientific conferences and in scientific journals.

NASA Experience

Rubins was selected in July 2009 as one of 9 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class. Her training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T 38 flight training and water and wilderness survival training.

Spaceflight Experience

Expeditions 48 and 49 (July 2016 through October 2016.)On July 7th, 2016, Dr. Rubins launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station aboard the first test flight of the new Soyuz MS spacecraft. Together the international crew of Expeditions 48 and 49 conducted or participated in more than 275 different scientific experiments including research in molecular and cellular biology, human physiology, fluid and combustion physics, Earth and space science and technology development. Dr. Rubins was the first person to sequence DNA in space, eventually sequencing over 2 billion base pairs of DNA during a series of experiments to analyze sequencing in microgravity. Dr. Rubins also grew heart cells (cardiomyocytes) in cell culture, and performed quantitative, real-time PCR and microbiome experiments in orbit. Dr. Rubins conducted two spacewalks totaling 12 hours, 46 minutes. During her first spacewalk, Rubins and Jeff Williams installed the first International Docking Adapter, a new docking port for U.S. commercial crew spacecraft. During the second, they performed maintenance of the station external thermal control system and installed high-definition cameras, enabling never-before seen images of the planet and space station. Jeff Williams and Rubins successfully captured SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply spacecraft and then returned science experiment samples to earth. During Expedition 49, Rubins and crewmate Takuya Onishi grappled Orbital ATK’s Cygnus resupply spacecraft, providing several tons of supplies and research experiments for future work on the orbital outpost. Expeditions 63 and 64 (October 2020 through April 2021) On October 14, 2020, Dr. Rubins launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. Dr. Rubins spent hundreds of hours working on new space station experiments, building on investigations she conducted during her first mission, including heart research and multiple microbiology studies. She also advanced her work in DNA sequencing, which could allow astronauts to diagnose an illness in space or identify microbes growing at the space station. Rubins worked on the Cardinal Heart experiment, which studies how changes in gravity affect cardiovascular cells at the cellular and tissue levels. Results could provide new understanding of heart problems on Earth, help identify new treatments, and support development of screening measure to predict cardiovascular risk prior to spaceflight. She returned safely to Earth on April 17, 2021 spending 185 days in space and conducted two spacewalks. During Dr. Rubins two spaceflight missions, she has logged in a total of 300 days in space and conducted four spacewalks.

Dr. Marshall-Goebel holds a PhD in Physiology from the University of Cologne (Cologne, Germany) and has held research positions at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the NASA Cardiovascular & Vision Laboratory. Dr. Marshall-Goebel was awarded a place on the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Healthcare and Science in 2017, was a recipient of the 2019 Aerospace Medical Association Tredici Award, 2022 NASA Space Flight Awareness Award, 2022 NASA JSC Director’s Innovation Award, and the 2022 NASA Early Career Achievement Medal.

Dr. Warren was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended the University of California at Davis for both her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in physiology. For her doctoral work, she investigated the effects of gravity as a continuum on energy balance in rats. She completed post-doctoral work in cancer biology at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Laboratory of Cell Growth, and in the Neuroscience Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She has performed a variety of roles at NASA, including serving as Deputy Project Scientist for the NASA Bed Rest and Artificial Gravity Projects. Dr. Warren also spent several years as an Operations Lead in Mission Control for the ISS Medical Project. Dr. Warren most recently managed research on the ISS National Laboratory as a Senior Program Director at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

Luca graduated from the Liceo Scientifico Statale 'Galileo Galilei' in Catania, Italy, in 1995. In 1999, he completed a bachelor’s degree in political sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, with a thesis on international law. In 2000, he graduated from the Italian Air Force Academy, in Pozzuoli, Italy. Luca completed basic flight training with the US Air Force at the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training in Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, US, in 2001. In 2002 he qualified on the A-11 at the 101st Operational Conversion Unit. In the same year, he completed the JCO/CAS course with the USAFE in Sembach, Germany. In 2003, he qualified as Electronic Warfare Officer at the ReSTOGE in Pratica di Mare, Italy. He completed the Tactical Leadership Programme in Florennes, Belgium, in 2005. In July 2009, Luca completed a master’s degree in experimental flight test engineering at the Institute Superieure de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France.

Special honours: Luca was awarded a Silver Medal to the Aeronautical Valour by the President of the Italian Republic in 2007. He was recognised a ‘Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica’ by the President of the Italian Republic in 2013.

Experience: Following completion of undergraduate pilot training in 2001, Luca flew the AM-X aircraft with the 13th Group, 32nd Wing in Amendola, Italy, from 2001 to 2007. During that time, he obtained all aircraft qualifications, including Combat Ready, day/night air to air refuelling, Four Ship Leader and Mission Commander/Package Leader. Within the 13th Group he served as Chief of Training Section and Commander of the 76th Flight. He was also the 32nd Wing Electronic Warfare Officer. In 2007, he was selected by the Italian Air Force to become a test pilot.

He trained as an Experimental Test Pilot at EPNER, the French test pilot school in Istres. Luca was promoted to the role of Colonel in the Italian Air Force ahead of his Beyond mission in 2019. He has logged more than 2000 hours flying time, is qualified on more than 20 types of military airplanes and helicopters, and has flown over 40 types of aircraft. Luca was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009.

Luca was the Ground IV (lead EVA communicator) during fellow ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s first spacewalk on his Proxima mission, which took place on 13 January 2017. The spacewalk was completed in 5 hours and 58 minutes. 

Professor Comfort was also an NSCA board member from 2020-2023. He regularly consults with numerous sports teams and organizations and has authored / co-authored >150 peer reviewed journal articles. Paul is also co-editor of the textbooks, ‘Advanced Strength and Conditioning: an evidence-based approach’, ‘Performance Assessment for strength and Conditioning’ and ‘Laboratory Manual for Strength and Conditioning’. 

Personal

Born September 11, 1967 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Considers Santa Monica, California to be his hometown. Married to the former Rebecca Burgin of Pompton Plains, New Jersey, they have a son and a daughter. He enjoys travel, music, photography, weight training, sports, scuba diving, motorcycling, and flying warbirds. His father Albert ‘Randy’ Bresnik resides in Santa Monica, California.

Education

Graduated from Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California, 1985. Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, 1989. Master of Science in Aviation Systems, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2002. Graduate of Air War College, 2008. Honorary Doctorate in Aeronautics, The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, 2010.

Experience

Bresnik received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at The Citadel in May 1989. After graduation, he attended The Basic School (TBS) and Infantry Officers Course (IOC) in Quantico, Virginia. He attended primary flight training in Pensacola, Florida, Intermediate and Advanced flight training in Beeville, Texas, and was designated a Naval Aviator in April 1992. He completed initial F/A-18 training at Navy Fighter/Attack Training Squadron VFA-106, NAS Cecil Field, Florida. Upon completion of training, he reported to Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron, VMFA-212 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, then MCAS El Toro, California, and additionally MCAS Miramar, California, where he made three overseas deployments to the Western Pacific. While assigned to VMFA-212, he attended the Marine Corps Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course (WTI) and Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). Bresnik was selected for U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland and began the course in January 1999. After graduation in December 1999, he was assigned as a F/A-18 Test Pilot/Project Officer at the Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron (NSATS). While at Strike, Bresnik flew the F/A-18 A-D and F/A-18 E/F in all manners of flight test. In January 2001, he returned to the USNTPS as a Fixed-Wing and Systems Flight Instructor where he instructed in the F/A-18, T-38, and T-2. Bresnik returned to the Test Squadron in January 2002 to continue flight test on the F/A-18 A-F as the Platform/Project Coordinator. In November 2002, he reported to Marine Aircraft Group Eleven (MAG-11) as the Future Operations Officer. In January 2003, MAG-11 deployed to Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait. From Al Jaber, he flew combat missions in the F/A-18 with VMFA-225 in support of Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was the Operations Officer of VMFA-232 when he was selected as an astronaut. He has logged more than 6,700 hours in 87 types of aircraft/rotorcraft/glider/spacecraft. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot Rating and an Unlimited Piston Engine Letter of Authorization.

NASA Experience

Selected as an astronaut by NASA in May 2004. In February 2006, he completed Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Bresnik completed his first spaceflight on STS-129 in November 2009. From 2009 through 2011, Bresnik was assigned as the support astronaut on the Space Shuttle Closeout Crew tasked with strapping in the crew and closing and sealing the access hatch for flight. He was the Lead Astronaut on the closeout crew for the final Shuttle Mission STS-135. From 2012 through 2015, he served as the Lead Astronaut for NASA’s partnership with the SpaceX Company in the design and development of their crewed Dragon Capsule as well as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in the Mission Control Center. In 2010, Bresnik trained as a Cave-a-naut in the extreme environment training of the European Space Agency’s Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills (CAVES), in Sardinia, Italy. This was the first spaceflight analog of its type exploring, mapping, and living deep beneath the surface of the Earth. In September 2014, Bresnik, his three crew members and two habitat technicians tested technologies and training techniques for use aboard the International Space Station and future deep space exploration missions during NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO 19). Bresnik was the Commander of NEEMO 19 team of Aquanauts. The mission was conducted in Florida International University’s undersea research habitat the Aquarius Reef Base, located six miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, and 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

Spaceflight Experience

STS-129 (November 16 through November 29, 2009). This was the 31st shuttle flight to the International Space Station. During the mission, the crew delivered two Express Logistics Carriers (ELC racks) to the space station, approximately 30,000 pounds of replacement parts. Bresnik performed two spacewalks for a total of 11 hours and 50 minutes. The STS-129 mission was completed in 10 days, 19 hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds, traveling 4.5 million miles in 171 orbits, and returned to Earth bringing back with them NASA astronaut Nicole Stott following her tour of duty aboard the station. ISS Expedition 52/53 (July 28 through December 14, 2017). The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz 51S spacecraft. Bresnik was joined by ESA/ASI Astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy. During the mission the crew worked over 300+ scientific experiments and investigations, worked with 4 different visiting space vehicles, and conducted 4 spacewalks (3 USOS & 1 Russian). Bresnik performed 3 spacewalks totaling 20 hours and 10 minutes. Bresnik’s spacewalk experience is now 5 EVAs for a total of 32 hours 0 minutes outside in the void of space. The crew also took 808,126 photographs of the earth and inside the ISS during the two expeditions. Expedition 52/53 was completed in 139 days, completing 2224 orbits of the earth and travelling 58,835,163 mi (108,962,720 km). Bresnik served as Flight Engineer aboard the Soyuz 51S and Expedition 52 as well as Commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 53. Since August 2018, Bresnik has been serving as the Assistant-to-the-Chief of the Astronaut Office for Exploration. In this role he manages insight and expertise of the crew in their essential role in the development and testing of all vehicles and aspects of an Artemis mission – Orion crewed vehicle, Space Launch System (SLS), Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), Human Landing Systems (HLS), and the Lunar Gateway, Lunar unpressurized and pressurized rovers, as well as the new lunar surface exploration suits.

For close to a decade Simon led the Medical Projects & Technology Unit, a multidisciplinary team at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, which helped maintain the health of European astronauts on Earth and in space. Since leaving EAC he has been on the Board of Directors of Blue Abyss, which is establishing extreme environment facilities to facilitate the research, training and evaluation of technology and human operations in the depths of our oceans and in Space. Simon has been passionate about the development of UK human spaceflight activities over the last 30 years, co-founding organisations such as the UK Space Life and Biomedical Sciences Association, and the UK Space Environments Association as a result. He is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Kings College London, a Visiting Professor at Northumbria University, and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.