NASA Behavioral Health Scientist Balances Moon Research and Family as US-Russian Crew Returns to Earth

The Soyuz MS-28 capsule touched down in the Kazakh steppe southeast of Dzhezkazgan on Sunday, bringing NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev back to Earth after 241 days in space. Their parachute-assisted descent marked the end of Expedition 75, a mission that underscored continued US-Russian cooperation in orbit. Williams and Mikaev completed their first spaceflight; Kud-Sverchkov logged his second.As the trio was whisked by helicopter to Karaganda—Williams then flying to Johnson Space Center in Houston, the cosmonauts to Star City outside Moscow—another story was unfolding inside NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory. There, Dr. Suzanne Bell, an organizational psychologist, is leading research that could define how astronauts thrive on the Moon and Mars.Bell’s day starts at 5am, without an alarm. She spends two hours with her latte, reading or answering emails. That quiet time, she says, is essential. By 8am she’s at Johnson Space Center, principal investigator for Artemis crew health research—the first program to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit in half a century. The Artemis II crew completed pre-mission data collection last month. Bell and her team briefed the human research program on what needs to be addressed before Artemis III, which aims for a sustained lunar presence and eventually a moon base.“We have data that can already inform how the base should be built,” Bell says. She skipped lunch on a busy day, grabbing a salad on the way to a meeting. She follows a “daily dozen” healthy longevity diet—no flour or sugar except on special occasions. Her work, she notes, is thrilling because it draws from people who have actually gone into deep space. “That is the direction we’re heading.”Bell leaves the office by 5pm to prioritize her two teenagers, ages 13 and 15. They hit the gym together, lift weights, or go indoor climbing. She goes to bed early. “It’s not rocket science,” she jokes. But her research might be just that—understanding how humans perform under extreme isolation and pressure. As Williams, Kud-Sverchkov, and Mikaev adjust to gravity, Bell’s findings will help shape the next giant leap.