Crew Bios, Photos, Patch – November 13th

MDRS Crew 268
November 13-26, 2022

Name: Dr. Jennifer Hesterman
Colonel, US Air Force (retired)
Crew Title: Commander
Country: United States
Bio: Jenni is a retired Air Force colonel and counterterrorism expert. She has a doctorate in Higher
Education, MS degrees in Applied Behavioral Science and Military Operational Art and Science, and a BS
in Geography. She is an author, professor, public speaker and explorer who reached both the North and
South Poles.
Name: Elizabeth Balga
Crew Title: Health & Safety Officer
Country: United States
Bio: Elizabeth is an engineer specializing in spacecraft flight crew integration, test, and operations on
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Program. She holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MS in aerospace
Astronautical Engineering. She has an Emergency Medical Technician certification, advanced and rescue
SCUBA certifications, and works part-time as a parabolic flight attendant for the Zero Gravity Corporation.
Name: Caitlyn Hubric
Crew Title: Crew Biologist & Crew Greenhab Officer
Country: United States
Research: Caitlyn is a student pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Astrobiology. She currently does
research in areas of chemical soil ecology and is working to help design the food
production/decomposition stage of a bioregenerative life support system for a colony. She plans to search
for microorganisms at MDRS that could potentially have plant growth promoting capabilities and could be
utilized in regolith based agriculture.
Name: Judith Marcos
Crew Title: Crew Engineer
Country: United States
Bio: Judith Marcos is a student still at the start of her engineering career. She is currently pursuing a
mechanical and civil engineering degree at MCC. In order to further develop her knowledge and
experience in engineering, Judith holds a position as an intern at the Tx Department of Transportation.
The previous year her team has also competed and placed in the 2022 Nasa MINDS competition.
Name: Jas Purewal
Crew Title: XO/Scientific Officer
Country: United Kingdom
Jas Purewal MSc Astrophysics. Senior research scientist working for a UK national lab. Co-founder and
Executive Director of The Analog Astronaut Community and Conference. In 2020, Jas built a low-fidelity
habitat and conducted her own analog mission in the UK.
Name: Izabela Shopova
Crew Title: Communication Officer

Country: Bulgaria (New Zealand, Australia)
Bio: Izabela is an engineer with 15 years experience in information management systems and process
optimisation, a popular writer of non-fiction books and a learning designer. She has a fascination with
extreme Mars-like environments and has participated in an Antarctic expedition in 2016, and traveled
through the Atacama desert in 2018. Izabela was a semifinalist for the first FMARS mission in 2014.
Strong supporter of the liberalisation of space, Izabela is working on developing an accessible interactive
learning experience for analog astronauts across the world.