In this episode, we head to Homer, Alaska, where the northern lights glow and alpacas roam, to meet Laura Reiske: middle school math teacher, lifelong space nerd, and Chief of Staff for the APUS Analog Research Group. Laura shares how a love for black holes and clear Alaskan skies led her back to space, from NASA’s L’SPACE Mission Concept Academy (Deputy PM for Team SIGMA) to pursuing a master’s in Space Studies.

We dive into her first crewed analog at SAM in Arizona, where she commanded Team Red through a five-day isolation: tracking water, growing spirulina, sealing the habitat in full pressurization mode, and navigating a panic attack before her first EVA with crew-centered breathing techniques. Leadership, teaching, teamwork, and wonder, all in one orbit.

AARG Website: https://www.apusssrp.space/aarg

AARG Email Address: [email protected]

AARG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/apus-analog-research-group-aarg/posts/?feedView=all

AARG Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apusarg/

AARG X: https://x.com/APUS_Analog

Laura Reiske LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-reiske/

Laura’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/l.reiske/

SAM at Biosphere 2: https://samb2.space/

AARG’s Mission Blog by SAM: https://samb2.space/blog/page/3/

AARG’s Mission Blog by AMU: https://amuedge.com/the-aarg-1s-mission-and-simulating-a-crew-shift-change/

The Airlock Module Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/AirlockModule

Meet Hanna, the first Armenian analog astronaut and a robotics engineering student charting her own course into space. We trace her leap from Buzz Lightyear–sparked curiosity to real-world missions: ground operations support on AMADEE-24 at ARMASH (Armenia), astronaut on the all-female LOTOS mission at the Analog Astronaut Training Center (Poland), and crew member on Terra Nova at LunAres (Poland) simulating Axiom-4. Hanna unpacks what it means to represent Armenia, how analog missions build resilient teams, and why soft-skills and cognitive training matter as much as hardware. It’s a fast, inspiring look at persistence, purpose, and finding your place in the global space community.

Hanna Harutyunyan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannasav/

Mission: Analog Podcast: https://missionanalog.com/

Starmus: https://starmus.com/

AMADEE-24 Mission: https://oewf.org/en/amadee-24/

Buzz Lightyear in Space: https://youtu.be/AzcnBdq1TZ4?si=ay2I0kGVSb2e-TOr

Lunares Website: https://lunares.space/

Hanna’s Logo photo credit: https://borderless.so/stories/my-educational-journey-to-space-to-infinity-and-beyond

Hanna’s GOST Uniform photo credit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannasav/recent-activity/all/

Axiom-4 mission: www.axiomspace.com/missions/ax4

Asclepios Website: https://asclepios.ch/

ARMASH Facility photo credit: https://x.com/AustriaInGe/status/1776499504503570649/photo/4

LOTOS crew photo credit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannasav/recent-activity/images/

Lunares Habitat photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LunAres#/media/File:LunAres_Research_Station_in_the_post-nuclear_bunker.jpg

NineCubes: https://www.interpersonalskillslab.ch/en/

Martina Dimoska photo credit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxLsVm3LcRG/?hl=en&img_index=1

The Airlock Module Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/AirlockModule

Dennis Miller embodies purpose, precision, and passion, on Earth and in analog space. As Chief of Operations and Flight Director for the APUS Analog Research Group, Dennis has led student teams through Mars-style simulations, drawing on two decades in the U.S. Marine Corps and his current work supporting NASA procurement at Goddard.  In this episode, Dennis traces his unlikely path from F-18 avionics and hospital respirator repair to multimillion-dollar reconstruction programs in Iraq, and eventually to mission planning for high-fidelity analogs. We unpack his “intent over instructions” approach, how to build schedules with buffers, and what real risk management looks like when suit docking fails and emotions run high. Plus: favorite experiments (spirulina, mobility rigs, rescue sleds), how ILMAH and SAM differ, and why future mission controllers should experience analogs firsthand.

U.S. Army Research Laboratory: https://arl.devcom.army.mil/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-miller-pmp-cfcm-4b4242b4/

AARG Website: https://www.apusssrp.space/aarg

US Army Research Lab: https://arl.devcom.army.mil/

NASA's NEEMO: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/analog-field-testing/neemo/about-neemo-nasa-extreme-environment-mission-operations/

VMFA-321 Hells Angels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMFA-321

The Airlock Module Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/AirlockModule

What will astronauts actually eat, and what can Mars menus teach us about feeding people on Earth? Yuki talks with Kristine Jane Atienza, public health nutritionist, founder of the Space Nutrition Network, and the first Filipino analog astronaut, about living and working at HI-SEAS, balancing calories, protein, and morale, and why cultural food identity (yes, adobo and rice!) belongs in space. Kristine also shares her path to NASTAR suborbital training, plans to help launch the first Space Food & Nutrition Lab at the Philippine Space Agency, and how her side project turning Philippine constellations into sound connects science, heritage, and hope.

Kristine Atienza’s personal website: https://tintinatienza.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tintinatienza/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tintinatienza/?hl=en

X/Twitter: https://x.com/tintinatienza

Hi-Seas: https://www.hi-seas.org/

MerPeople Docu: https://www.netflix.com/pe-en/title/81439780

Lunares: https://lunares.space/

Asclepios: https://asclepios.ch/

Philippines Space Agency: https://philsa.gov.ph/

D-Futuro Conference: https://dfuturo.id/

Vogue Magazine: https://vogue.ph/international-womens-day/kristine-atienza-food-for-the-stars/

The Airlock Module Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/AirlockModule