What Space Exploration Teaches Us About Resilience and Leadership

Space exploration lights up the imagination. The idea of a vast, unexplored cosmos full of discovery, adventure, and wonder has inspired humans throughout history. Now that space exploration is coming within reach, though, humans must contend with the practicalities of outer space and the resilience needed to survive and thrive outside of Earth’s orbit.

This is where space analog missions come into play. These missions place carefully selected teams of individuals in environments that are analogous to space, whether that’s icy conditions like on the Moon, lava tubes or caves to simulate Mars or asteroids, or confined, isolated habitats to imitate a space station. The missions provide space agencies with data about the strengths, limitations, and validity of planned space missions and are designed to look for safeguards against the hazards of life in space, according to NASA. The projects also test participants’ ability to cope with unique stressors, test new equipment or procedures, solve interpersonal challenges, and succeed in unnatural and tight spaces. Sound familiar, security professionals?

Jennifer Hesterman is one of these analog astronauts. She has participated in two missions, including leading an all-female, international crew at a research station for two weeks in the Utah desert and living in an inflatable habitat for five days in a Spanish cave system. Hesterman is also a former U.S. Air Force colonel and a security consultant specializing in soft targets, risk assessments, and situational awareness. The analog mission experiences showed her how the lessons she learned in the military and security about team dynamics, conflict resolution, and personal resilience have significant applications outside security and outside Earth.

Analog missions likely get more personal than most security teams will need to (such as sharing tiny living quarters with a team that has been relegated to using body wipes instead of showers to preserve water), but when it comes to conflict, the lesson is the same across fields—keep your focus on the shared goal: why are we here?

“In security, we see this—not infighting, but between cyber, physical security, and personnel security, I'm seeing a lot of competition for money and resources,” Hesterman says. “There’s conflict. It’s not personal conflict, but it’s really just fighting over resources and attention even, trying to get to the top of everybody’s list of importance.”

Similarly, analog astronauts are hungry to prove themselves, achieve all their mission objectives, and push their own limits. But sometimes it’s worth slowing down, reevaluating, and finding compromises to achieve overall goals and keep everyone safe—especially when the mission entails rappelling down a cave wall in cumbersome spacesuits.

“You could get hurt on these missions,” Hesterman says. “It wasn’t just physical safety, it was also psychological safety, like how to protect people from having PTSD. That happens in the security world, too, and we sometimes overlook that. It’s not just being safe, but it's also psychological safety. We want the analog astronauts to have a good experience, thrive in this environment, and bring who they are and not change to conform to the community. But also we don't want them to suffer any kind of lasting psychological or stressful impact.”

This requires steady leadership and strong emotional intelligence (EQ), she adds. Crews are thoughtfully constructed so that there is a variety of skills and experience in each group—not a full crew of novices or college students.

“We would need somebody who’s a proven leader, who can lead in that environment, and who could mentor,” Hesterman explains. This doesn’t necessarily mean the person with the most impressive CV or credentials. If they lack EQ, can’t regulate their own emotions, or fail to recognize the potential impact of their words on others, they can fail.

“We’ve had some really amazing, top-notch people with all the skills go into the simulation and they fail,” she says. “Something happens, and it usually comes down to their emotional intelligence.”

Crew members need to be able to focus during crises, and they rely on their leaders to guide them through it. Emergency exercises during missions usually target key resources, such as shutting down communications or power. During these moments, self-regulation is essential to get the operation back up and running.

“We teach them to be calm, first of all. If bad things happen, take a deep breath. We practice tactical breathing—breathe four in, four out,” Hesterman says. “We talk about all the physiological changes that happen during stress—that your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure, you get a little tunnel vision, and your hearing is affected. We talk about all the things that are going to happen to you that you can’t change physiologically during a crisis and how to mitigate those or at least understand they’re about to happen to you and how to work around them.”

Younger participants pick these skills up quickly, she says, especially because they have grown up expecting to find themselves in a life-or-death emergency like an active assailant incident. This often makes them more adaptable and agile during crises.

We’ve had some really amazing, top-notch people with all the skills go into the simulation and they fail. Something happens, and it usually comes down to their emotional intelligence.

Early-career participants are also more attuned to feedback, since they want to learn, grow, and improve their skill sets during and outside of crises.

“A lot of times in the security profession, security professionals don’t really want feedback from each other,” Hesterman says. “But this community [of analog astronauts] treasures feedback and they want to know if I screwed up, how can I fix it? How can I keep from doing this the next time, do this wrong? I think for the folks that are transferring these skills to their workplace—the new generation of workers—that's great because they’re asking for feedback, and they don’t get offended if you give it to them.”

The analog astronauts are also encouraged to ask for outside advice using an external helpline. This, too, translates to the security world, Hesterman says.

“I always tell people to have people on speed dial that you trust, that you can run a situation by,” she says. “Don't try to do things alone in a vacuum, especially if you're struggling or if you’re upset—just call somebody. Have people that you can reach out to that can lift you up, and that can offer some good advice, and even just listen."

Analog astronauts have a confidential form they can fill out after missions to work through near-misses, including safety issues, something that could have gone very wrong, or other challenges. This enables mission directors to identify trends—whether about carbon monoxide issues in habitats or anger management problems among participants—and gives the participants more input into future missions.

Claire Meyer is editor-in-chief of Security Management. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her directly at [email protected].