Episode 33 - Anastasiya Stepanova (Space Journalist, Engineer, Human Test Subject MARS160 Mission)
“The worst problem is when people don’t know what they want to do and who they want to be. My advice to them is go back to your childhood because when you’re a kid you don’t have the mindset that’s from society or from your parents, Hey everyone, you’re quite a clean sheet of paper and you just explore the world – if you like something – you like something.” In this episode, we speak with Anastasiya Stepanova. She’s an engineer at the Institute of Biomedical Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences, a Space journalist, co-author of the book “I Wish You A Good Flight”, a test subject in first in the world female dry-immersion experiment at the Institute of biomedical problems, a Health and safety officer and crew journalist in the international project “Mars160” through which she’s spent 80 days at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah and 30 days at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on the uninhabited Devon island in Canada. She’s also spent 120 days in isolation as a Mission specialist in an international isolation experiment. And on top of those, she’s also a rescuer at the public search and rescue squad “SpasReserv” and an ambassador of the charity project Unity helping to send children’s dreams to space. We discuss: - How she ended up with such a unique career in the first place - The power of motivation and your “why” when facing challenges - The importance of following your passions without caving in to fear - How to discover what you should spend your time doing that’ll make work not just about money (what would make you feel fulfilled?) - so much more We hope you enjoy this episode (please forgive us for the quality of sound in this episode – Anastasiya was speaking to us from her car. We think it’s still very much worth your listen!)