Williamsburg native shoots for the stars as NASA astronaut candidate

Zena Cardman has studied the tenacity of life in some of the coldest, driest, most extreme environments on Earth.

A microbiologist from Williamsburg, she’s researched microorganisms in the frigid waters of the Arctic and Antarctic, in caves and in deep-sea sediments.

Now, if things work out, that expertise could propel her off-planet one day — to the International Space Station, to the moon or even, perhaps, to Mars.

This week, Cardman begins a rigorous two-year training regimen in Houston as one of 14 members of NASA’s 2017 class of astronauts.

But it’s not the culmination of a childhood dream.

“Like any kid growing up, I was very drawn to the night sky and the stars and the world around me,” Cardman, 29, said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I love exploring and pondering the extent and limits of life here on this planet and beyond. But it wasn’t until college that I set my sights on becoming an astronaut.

“So I didn’t grow up dreaming of this job. But it sure feels like a dream now.”

Dangerous but exciting

For the next two years, she and her fellow trainees, all with diverse careers and skills, will learn to become a cohesive unit. They’ll learn to walk in space and to fly a T-38 supersonic jet. They’ll learn how to operate robotic systems and how things work on the ISS. They’ll learn to speak Russian to communicate with their ISS colleagues.

And should she make the grade at the end of it, one day, Cardman could be the microbiologist combing through Martian regolith or excavating Martian caves for signs of Martian life.

“It is very scientifically relevant,” Cardman said of her academic expertise and how it fits with space exploration. “What I’ve made a career studying are things that thrive in very extreme environments — places that are totally dark or very dry or very cold — and that’s a good analogy for an environment like Mars. So it helps us figure out what sorts of signatures can we look for if we were to look for life on another planet.”

The prospect thrills her parents, Helen-Andrea and Larry Cardman. But it worries them, too.

“On the one hand, we’re enormously proud of her achieving a goal of this kind that she set for herself,” said Larry Cardman, an experimental physicist at Jefferson Lab in Newport News. “And then I say to myself, well, when I think about things like Mars, it’s more than a little difficult not to be nervous about it.”

A mission to the ISS would be less worrisome, he said, while the moon sounds less daunting, too — “I mean, we’ve done it.”

“And, while I appreciate it’s as dangerous as can be,” he added, “I can imagine it would be as exciting as can be.”

The Cardmans live in the Williamsburg area, in the Queens Lake subdivision. There Zena Cardman graduated from Bruton High School before earning a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in marine sciences from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. When she learned of her selection by NASA in May, she was a graduate research fellow at Pennsylvania State University.

Advice from above

On Tuesday, Cardman joined her fellow trainees in speaking with current American astronauts now orbiting aboard the ISS, picking their brains, asking for tips.

“Take advantage of each other’s expertise and learn from each other,” advised biochemist Peggy Whitson, now on her third long-duration mission aboard the station.

Get good at using tools, she said, and at fixing things.

“You can’t be hesitant about taking things apart and putting it back together,” Whitson said, “because it’s a big part of our job.”

Such practical skills came in handy once, she said, when a solar array tore during a deployment as a supply shuttle was due to undock.

“We knew we couldn’t undock the shuttle with a torn solar array,” Whitson recounted. “We’d either have to jettison, and we knew we couldn’t retract it because it was torn.”

NASA came up with a “phenomenal” plan, she said, and it was up to the station crew to execute it, and in short order.

“We had some of the most sporty robotics going on,” said Whitson. “I got to build what they call ‘cuff links’ to hold the solar array together. And then we had to put the tallest EVA (extravehicular activity) guy we had on the end of an arm that was extended, with a shuttle arm as well. And we were able to accomplish it.”

U.S. Air Force pilot and astronautical engineer Col. Jack Fischer urged trainees to get familiar with their international colleagues.

“It’s not just the language — it’s the culture, and understanding what drives each culture and the background of a person,” Fischer said. “It’s no different from how you would figure out how to get along with anybody in a small group dynamic. But the culture and the traditions that help make a person who they are are important to understand and embrace.

“We’ve definitely done that with our Russian crewmates. It’s pivotal to understand where they’re coming from and how they’re going to react to a situation.”

Retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot Col. Randolph “Komrade” Bresnik said a supportive family is key during long deployments and space missions.

“As always, it’s your family back home that carries the load and makes it possible for you to do this,” said Bresnik. “I will be up in November when my daughter turns 8. I will have been up here in space for two of my daughter’s birthdays, and that’s tough.

“If I may take a moment today,” he added, “today’s my anniversary with my wife. I want to thank my amazing wife, Rebecca, for 14 wonderful years. … Everyone needs to know that I am one lucky man.”

Help along the way

Zena Cardman is engaged to Miles Saunders, a navigator aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus, a roving ship operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust to conduct deep-sea research.

Cardman said she and Saunders have both taken up residence in Houston for her training, which officially began Monday.

“Our job for the first two years is just to learn,” Cardman said. “We’re going to be professional sponges.”

She credits family and educators for helping her land where she is today.

At Bruton, she said, it was Emil Davis, a biology teacher who “sent me down a path of being curious about nature and the world.”

Another breakthrough came during her undergraduate career.

“I decided I really wanted to go to Antarctica, and I emailed, gosh, like, 80 different PIs — principal investigators, scientists — who did research there,” Cardman said. “Just out of the blue: ‘Dear So-and-so, my name is Zena. I have no experience going to Antarctica; take me with you.’

“And of course, most of them didn’t even reply. Those who did said, ‘Sorry, we don’t have any funding or we just don’t have room for you; you’re an undergrad.’ But, actually, a couple of them said yes. They took a chance on someone they never met.”

One of them was at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point. VIMS is affiliated with the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

“Zena sailed with us on our annual six-week oceanographic research cruise to study the effects of climate change on the marine ecosystem along the Antarctic Peninsula,” said Deborah Steinberg, a VIMS professor and zooplankton expert.

“Zena’s focus was on the ecology of microbes in this extreme (and otherworldly) environment. … She is really sharp, a team player and has a creative, artistic side, too. I am so happy for her!”

Larry Cardman believes it was this trek and others that helped his daughter cinch her spot as an astronaut trainee.

“Most of (the candidates) had some consequent experience of some sort on their resumes,” he said. “One guy, for example, spent a lot of time on a fishing boat in the Arctic. Zena worked in the Antarctic for an extended period once and was on boats going down there and back.”

As diverse as the NASA candidates may be, he said, one commonality he noted is their ability to work as a team, to respect each other, to look to each other for thoughts and ideas.

“If you’re stuck together in a capsule on the way to Mars,” Cardman said, “those are good attributes to have around you.”

Contact Dietrich at 757-247-7892 or tdietrich@dailypress.com. Follow on Twitter at DP_Dietrich