Astronaut Kayla Barron on NASA’s missions to the moon and Mars: ‘You can’t prepare for the emotional experience of being in space’

She is very likely to be the first woman to ever step on the Moon, but NASA astronaut Kayla Barron - who addressed the Cambridge Festival this week - claims becoming the first is not what drives her.

In an exclusive interview with the Cambridge Independent, Kayla explained that she feels she is “standing on the shoulders” of the “incredible women” who have been flying in space for decades. She revealed how her 177-day mission to the International Space Station left her changed and humbled and that she was already excited about a possible future mission to Mars.

Kayla said: “It’s not important to me to be the first woman (on the Moon). I think it’s a huge honour to be a member of the astronaut corps at all. It’s a really special time to be a member of the astronaut corps when we’re flying to the International Space Station on multiple vehicles. And when we’re getting ready to send the first human crew to the moon since Apollo, and then in the next couple of years to send the crew to the surface to a place we’ve never been before.

“I think for me it’s an acknowledgement of how far we’ve come since the Apollo era in terms of gender representation, but all demographic representation in our office. There have been women flying in space and accomplishing amazing things for decades. And so I think for me the opportunity to see any woman from our office take a step on the moon just cements that legacy that we’re standing on the shoulders of the incredible women who have come before us, who really blazed the trail.”

She added that among her colleagues there were “a ton of really talented and highly qualified women, people of colour, people who represent groups that weren’t represented in the astronauts during Apollo.”

And she explained: “Of course, a woman will walk on the moon. And it’s important to acknowledge how momentous that is. But it’s not about that single moment, to me. It’s about the decades of contributions from women not only in the astronaut corps, but the larger space community.”

Kayla was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class after graduating from the US Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering and then earning a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Cambridge.

She credits her subsequent experience as a submarine warfare officer with preparing her for working in space.

Kayla said: “The similarities are really endless. On a submarine and on the space station, you’re sending human beings to live, work and accomplish a mission in a place where human beings are not meant to be. Whether that’s the depths of the ocean or the vacuum of space, the engineering challenges you have to overcome to support that are really similar. But even more importantly, in my opinion, the type of team you need to be safe and successful in those mission environments is exactly the same.

“No one person can know everything you need to know to get the job done and done safely. And so you really need expertise from all of these different backgrounds, all these different perspectives and you have to have the ability to bring those perspectives together in a environment we have to make decisions quickly with limited information.”

She served as a member of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which launched on November 10, 2021. The astronauts safely splashed down on Friday, May 6, 2022 completing the agency’s third long-duration commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. Those months on board had a huge impact on her, emotionally.

“Seeing the Earth from that perspective made me feel very small and very humble,” recalled Kayla. “But it also made me more thoughtful than ever about what I’m going to do with the tiny blip of time I get on this planet. What am I going to do to make a difference, and big or small, to leave the world a better place for the people that come after me? So I think that perspective will continue to drive what I do for the rest of my life.”

Despite all of her training, nothing could have prepared her for the experience of being in space and she believes going to the moon will be another huge turning point.

“The one thing you can’t really train for is the emotional experience of doing these incredible things. Just having the surreal experiences, whether that’s launch, whether that’s translating outside of the airlock on your first spacewalk, seeing your first view of the Earth through your space suit visor with nothing in your peripheral vision...

“Coming home, it was literally falling to Earth from space through the atmosphere. I think all of those experiences are really, really emotional and a huge privilege and honour to be part of them. But it just kind of changes your perspective about everything you’ve done so far and everything you’re going to do in the future to have this really privileged view of our home planet and this new understanding of how connected we all are, how reliant we all are, not only for what we’re doing today, but to protect the planet for future generations. So it’s honestly hard for me to imagine what it would be like to see the moon up close, let alone walk on it to turn around and see the Earth in the distance as this tiny blue dot.

“I think it would be a really incredible experience and certainly you change the lives of those who are lucky enough to have it.”

Unlike some other astronauts, Kayla never experienced throwing up in her spacesuit while training for the G-force experienced during a space launch.

She revealed: “You definitely have feelings of mild nausea, especially when we went in the centrifuges for training. We were doing our launch and re-entry profiles. And so in SpaceX Dragon vehicles, we kind of topped out around a little over four Gs. But then there’s these times in the profile where you go from plus four Gs [more than four times gravity] to negative one G in a matter of seconds. And that is always really uncomfortable, but I think you recover quickly.”

A cast iron stomach is clearly a benefit for any astronaut, as is a lack of fear.

When asked whether she would consider a mission to Mars after going to the moon, Kayla didn’t hesitate to answer.

“The Artemis program is really NASA’s next step to get us to Mars, to interplanetary travel. There’s a lot we have to learn, a lot of technology we have to develop, a lot of operational concepts we have to test before we send a crew so far from home.

“That's going to be a two and a half to three-year round trip mission. It takes us three days to get to the moon. It’s going to take six months to get to Mars. It’s a totally different ballgame. But I think if we are going to Mars and I’m in astronaut corps, I would be interested in being on that crew. I think for all of us, it will really depend on - just like anything in life - timing: what's going on in your life and whether it makes sense to be off the planet for three years, while you’re doing something so incredible. And I think if you asked anyone in our office, we’d all be excited to be considered for that mission as well.”

• Rocket Woman: Kayla Barron took part in a talk with Cambridge astronomer Dr Matt Bothwell about all things space as part of the Cambridge Festival. Visit festival.cam.ac.uk for more fascinating events.