Crew 143

Crew ReportsPhotos on Flickr

PAUL KNIGHTLY - COMMANDERPaul Knightly is an environmental geologist currently working out of Kansas City. Upon graduating from Wichita State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona where he started his career as a geologist before moving back to Kansas. He brings with him to MDRS skills that he’s learned as a full time field geologist, from logging soil cores to sampling subterranean soil vapors.

Paul has had a long-standing interest in space exploration and planetary geology, actively following every mission to the Red Planet since the Mars Exploration Rovers landed in 2004. While in college, he started a chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and also helped to organize two meetings of the SpaceUp Kansas conference in 2012 and 2013. When he isn’t working or thinking about space, Paul spends his spare time developing his skills as an amateur photographer, hiking, flying Cessna 172’s, and storm chasing during the spring.

ALEXANDRE MANGEOT - XO

Alexandre Mangeot is a French aerospace engineer. He holds a master degree in mechanical from ParisTech Arts et Métiers university. The master has been concluded with his participation to the summer school of the Community of Ariane Cities, in Hambourg (Germany). He participated to the rewarded study about adaptation of Ariane 5 to human space flights.

He has been hired by CNES (French space agency) for a 3-years research grant to obtain his PhD. Hybrid space propulsion engines have been studied under both experimental and numerical approaches.

During the last two years, he worked in a start-up to design the lightest aircraft economical seat of the market. He was mainly in charge of the design of the seat accessories.

He has a previous experience at MDRS occurred in 2012 (Crew 113). In addition to his rotation in Crew 143 as a finalist for Ma365 mission, he will command the first crew of V-ERAS program of the Italian MarsSociety, in December.

During free time, he enjoys paragliding and travels.

CLAUDE-MICHEL LAROCHE - GREENHAB OFFICER

Claude-Michel Laroche is from Montréal, QC, Canada. He graduated from Physics from Université de Montréal in 2007 and in physics engineering from École Polytechnique Montréal in 2012. He also was a participant at the 2012 Space Study Program held at Melborne Florida by the International Space University in collaboration with the Florida Institute of Technology and the Kennedy Space Center. He is currently working as an Inspector for Measurement Canada and is also a section commander for the 34th service battalion.

Claude-Michel is a space enthusiast, and would want to see human reaching for the stars. He is a round two applicant for Mars-One and very eager for the MA365 mission.

Beside work and trying to colonise Mars, Claude-Michel is a avid gamer and try to do as much outreach about space exploration as possible when occasion arise.

PAUL SOKOLOFF - HSO

Paul Sokoloff is a botanist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, specializing in the biodiversity of plants in the Canadian Arctic. Through multiple expeditions to Canada’s Arctic territories, Paul has developed a deep interest in the photosynthetic organisms that inhabit some of Earth’s most extreme, and beautiful, environments.

A long time space enthusiast and lover of all things science fiction, Paul is thrilled to be a candidate for the Mars Arctic 365 Mission, where he can marry his love the of the Arctic with his desire to – one day –step onto the red planet. During his time at MDRS, Paul will be cataloging the plant, moss, lichen, and cyanobacteria present at the analog site, as a proof-of-concept for a larger project involving arctic plants as Martian terraforming tools.

Outside of analog space exploration and extreme botany, Paul is an avid swimmer, reader, and writer, and can be often found conducting scientific outreach through blogs, presentations, presentations, and media interviews.

ANASTASIYA STEPANOVA - CREW JOURNALISTAnastasiya Stepanova is from Moscow Russia. She has a master's degree in journalism from Moscow State University and studied space journalism for 4 years under Russian astronaut Yuriy Baturin. Her diploma work was "Space journalism", for which the field of research was a first in the history of the faculty. She is a co-author of the book for teenagers about space - "I wish you a good flight!" - is an easy and entertaining way for readers to get to know about space history, life there nowadays, and what to do to become an astronaut. Anastasiya is also a Mars One round two applicant. She participates in many different space projects to raise interest in space exploration. Her dream, alongside flying to Mars, is to unite the whole world in one goal space exploration!