Commander | ISS Mission 7 | Deep Space Advocate
Born under the Nevada desert sky, Nova Voss spent her childhood mapping constellations from the roof of her family's ranch. That early obsession with the infinite became a career spanning two decades of aerospace engineering and human spaceflight.
She holds dual doctorates in Astrophysics and Biomedical Engineering from MIT, and has logged over 847 days in low Earth orbit across four missions. Her seventh mission aboard the ISS focused on long-duration human physiology and deep-space navigation systems.
When not in orbit, Nova advocates for open-access space science and mentors the next generation of mission specialists through the Voss Foundation.
Launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 04:32 UTC. Rendezvous with ISS Node 2 completed in 6 hours 14 minutes — a personal record. The Earth from 408km still takes my breath away, even on the seventh time. Crew of six settled. Systems nominal. The silence up here is a different kind of silence.
Orbital InsertionSeven hours and forty-two minutes outside the station. Replaced the degraded solar array junction on the P4 truss. The sun rises every 90 minutes out here. Watched it crest the Pacific three times during the EVA. Gloves were stiff by hour six but the work was clean. Mission Control confirmed full power restoration.
SpacewalkCompleted the second phase of the pulsar-based autonomous navigation trials. The algorithm correctly identified our position to within 2.3km using only X-ray pulsar timing data — no GPS, no ground contact. This is the technology that will guide us to Mars. Submitted data package to JPL. Milestone achieved.
ResearchUndocked at 22:17 UTC. Reentry was nominal. The weight of gravity after six months of weightlessness is always a shock — my arms felt like lead. Kazakhstan landing zone. Recovery team on site in 11 minutes. 178 days, 4 hours, 22 minutes. Total career time in orbit: 847 days. Already thinking about Mission 8.
ReentryAvailable for speaking engagements, research collaborations,
and deep space conversations.