Dr. Tess Caswell is an engineer, scientist, and analog astronaut who grew up in a log cabin in the woods of Alaska. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a PhD in Geological Sciences from Brown University. She has floated in weightlessness, studied the flow of ice within moons of the outer solar system, and worked in control rooms for government and private space programs.
As a member of the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) XI crew, she lived in a simulated space station for thirty days to study the effects of isolation and stress on astronaut crews. She is an alumnus of the NASA Academy and the NASA/JPL Planetary Science Summer Seminar. She is currently a member of the Extravehicular Activities (EVA) team at NASA Johnson Space Center, where she plans spacewalks and helps prepare the next generation of lunar explorers for the Artemis program. She is a fervent believer in the power of space exploration to inspire the next generation.