For Eryn Andrews, a Human Performance Engineer at NASA, the return to the Moon is not just about rockets and spacecraft—it’s about the limits of the human body. With the Artemis program aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time in decades, Andrews and her team are tasked with answering a fundamental, high-stakes question: How much can we push our explorers?
Andrews, who has accumulated 17 years of total experience at NASA, currently serves on a research-based team focused specifically on spacewalking (Extravehicular Activity, or EVA) on the moon. Her goal is to determine how far, how hard, and how long humans can operate in this new, demanding environment while remaining safe, successful, and productive.
The Human Performance Puzzle
Andrews’ team sits at the nexus of high-level planning and physical reality. They receive questions from program management—such as whether astronauts could perform three or four spacewalks in a row back to back during a short stay.
The initial impulse might be to say “yes,” but Andrews explains that the reality of EVA is grueling. Working in a pressurized suit in a vacuum environment is hard work. Based on knowledge gathered from International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks, researchers know that even a single EVA constitutes a “hard day’s work”.
“It’s like running a marathon all day long and now you want to ask me to turn around in three more days back to back run another marathon,” Andrews states.
Because they know enough to realize they don’t know enough about the lunar environment and the new spacesuit, Andrews’ team designs experiments to get “hardcore answers”. They bring in test subjects to “play Ashnot” under specific conditions to gather tangible results.
These experiments often uncover expected results, but sometimes, they reveal unexpected outcomes—results that add “a whole new element that we hadn’t considered before”.
The South Pole: A Stepping Stone to Mars
Currently, the team is focusing exclusively on the Moon. However, the broader purpose is clear: the Moon is considered a “great testing ground for going extraterrestrial”, enabling the eventual mission to Mars.
Unlike the Apollo missions, which landed near the Moon’s equator, Artemis is targeting the lunar south pole. This region offers specific scientific benefits, including areas of permanent sun, permanent shadow, and a mix of both. The location also enables NASA to maintain constant communication with Earth.
This complexity means that for every one question the researchers answer, it “spawns off 10 more” because the environmental scenario changes. Andrews acknowledges that this sometimes feels overwhelming, but the process ensures they gain enough confidence to accept the risk and go back to the Moon. Once actual humans are there, the learning will accelerate: “for every one question we answer, we’re going to have 50 more”.
From Trainee to Trainer
Andrews spent the better part of a decade training astronauts how to spacewalk. In this prior role, she became an expert in the space suit, trained the astronauts, and watched over them in mission control. To be a good instructor, she had to know what she was talking about, which involved simulating an astronaut’s lifestyle and work experience, fueling her passion further.
Her own dream of becoming an astronaut began at a young age. Her parents, both in the Air Force, moved frequently, and she was born in the Philippines. Her defining moment came in 1993, at the age of 8, when she lived in Florida during the prime of the shuttle program. Seeing a shuttle launch from the causeway solidified her goal.
That drive persists today. She has applied to the astronaut program four times and been rejected four times, but she remains focused on gaining more experience.
Overcoming the “Nasty Little Voice”
Andrews admitted that her biggest personal challenge was confidence. She recalled the “nasty little voice” in her head that questioned her abilities, especially when facing academic challenges like struggling with math.
She credits teachers, family, and friends who “were not” willing to accept defeat for her, pushing her to study harder and take tests again, reminding her, “You’re not quitting on yourself ‘cuz you’re good enough to do this”.
This journey has led her to an important philosophy, which she shares as advice: Do not be afraid of failure.
“Failure has been a big and important part of my journey,” she says. Though NASA often jokes that failure is not an option, Andrews stresses that failure was “totally an option” on her personal path.
Failure is valuable because “we learn a lot from our failures”. She encourages people to reassess, learn from the lesson, try again, and fail again if necessary, because eventually, success will follow.
Andrews’ dedication to constant testing mirrors the scientific method itself. If space exploration is like scaling a vast, unknown mountain, her work is akin to meticulously testing every single piece of climbing gear—making sure the ropes don’t fray and the carabiners don’t snap—so that when the astronauts reach the highest, most dangerous peaks, the only variable left is the climb itself.
