Between Simulation and Orbit: Notes from the Edge of Human Spaceflight
Matej Poliaček
ISS Columbus Flight Controller
There’s something slightly surreal about watching a crew member float across your screen while knowing that, in a few hours, you’ll be planning their next experiment, or a system maintenance task. And something equally odd about rehearsing extravehicular activities in a simulated lunar crater – in a former Polish airbase.
I’ve spent the past few years switching between the real and the simulated: from supporting ESA’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station to living in isolation inside analogue habitats, walking in Mars suits, or designing microgravity experiments for parabolic flights. At the heart of it all is one question: how do we enable people to live and work effectively in space?
My journey into human spaceflight didn’t begin with a telescope or astronaut poster. It started quietly, with software, systems modelling, and ground control procedures. Over time, the simulations grew more realistic, the stakes higher. By 2023, I was preparing teams for real-time operations aboard the ISS. But I was also zipping up a suit and leading a crew into a sealed analogue habitat in Poland, tasked with simulating lunar life for two weeks under strict protocols.
It’s this mix between the real and the rehearsed, the Earthbound and the orbital – that has shaped the way I think about human spaceflight today.
From Analogues to Orbit: Bridging Simulations and Spaceflight
My early involvement in analogue missions, such as the LEARN project in 2018, was instrumental in securing my current role at the Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC) near Munich. At Col-CC, I began as part of the STRATOS team, responsible for monitoring and managing the Columbus module’s power, thermal, and environmental subsystems, as well as its data, video, and communication systems.
Over time, I advanced to the role of Flight Director, overseeing the safe execution of operations within the Columbus module and coordinating with international teams to support the International Space Station’s objectives. While my focus has shifted predominantly to real-time ISS operations and microgravity research projects like RESPIRE, I continued to engage in analogue missions in a parallel capacity, recognizing their value in preparing for future space exploration endeavors.
Learning to Simulate: LEARN Mission, 2018
My first analogue mission was called LEARN – a two-week simulated lunar mission at the LunAres Research Station in Piła, Poland. I joined as the crew’s Science Data Officer. It was a formative experience: my first exposure to full habitat isolation, internal crew dynamics, and the real-life friction of running a structured mission day after day in a confined space.
At the time, both the habitat and my own understanding of crewed space operations were still in development. We had procedures, but many were flexible by necessity. Much of our contribution came in the form of feedback: improving task schedules, revising protocols, and helping shape the practical aspects of future missions. The value of analogue missions lies in iteration, and it was clear we were part of that iterative process.
It wasn’t glamorous, but it was foundational. Looking back, that mission gave me a practical sense of what it means to simulate space – not just technically, but socially. I came away with more questions than answers, which turned out to be exactly what I needed.
Commanding with Context: NIKE-I, 2023
Five years later, I returned to LunAres – this time as a commander.
By that point, I was deep into my work at the Columbus Control Centre, supporting real-time operations of ESA’s laboratory aboard the International Space Station. The experience fundamentally changed how I approached NIKE-I. I had a clearer view of how crews are supported from the ground, what kinds of documentation and planning make sense, and how to structure responsibilities so that people can thrive in high-pressure, high-routine environments.
NIKE-I was different from LEARN in other ways too. We brought in actual spaceflight experiments – for example the MEDUSA experiment, in which we monitored the microbiome in our isolated habitat, to provide ground reference data to its ISS counterpart. On the ISS, the experiment was called “Touching Surfaces”, and flown and executed there by German astronaut Matthias Maurer. The mission wasn’t just a rehearsal; it was contributing data and insight to ongoing research. One EVA was coordinated with a Columbus flight director – one of my colleagues – using communication structures adapted from ISS protocols. That scenario later fed directly into operational concept development for LUNA, ESA and DLR’s lunar analogue facility.
We weren’t pretending to be on the Moon. We were practicing how to prepare others to go there.
Support in the Field: AMADEE-24, 2024
A few months before becoming a certified flight director, I joined the AMADEE-24 analogue Mars simulation – not as an analog astronaut, but as a member of the GOST team, deployed to the field in Armenia.
GOST, the Ground Operations Support Team, acts behind the scenes. We work to ensure safety, logistics, and experiment readiness without ever being visible to the analogue astronauts. In a mission like AMADEE-24, which was run under full isolation protocols with a 10-minute simulated signal delay, that meant working long hours in remote terrain, handling unexpected infrastructure issues, and maintaining the illusion of autonomy for the crew.
It’s fieldwork supporting a high fidelity mission. The location was selected by a geology team because landscape resembled parts of Mars; the operations model resembled those of real planetary missions. Our job was to keep the simulation functional – and safe – without being seen. It gave me a new perspective on analogue work: not just what it means to simulate spaceflight, but how much invisible effort it takes to make that simulation meaningful. It was also a good reminder of the path still ahead of us, as real Mars walkers won’t have anyone watching their backs in the field – there’s still a lot of work to be done, to make sure future astronauts on Moon, Mars and beyond are safe.
Microgravity as Reality: The RESPIRE Project, 2024
My most recent, and arguably the most exciting project has been RESPIRE, the Repeatable Experiment for Simulation of Particles from Inhaler in REduced Gravity. It’s a microgravity research project with the goal of studying aerosol behaviour in weightlessness – an area relevant for both space medicine and terrestrial health applications.
The project began with a simple but poorly understood question: how do inhaled particles behave in the absence of gravity? This question is particularly pertinent to people with asthma – if we send someone with asthma to space, could they rely on a regular inhaler from a pharmacy? To answer it, we designed and built a self-contained experiment for a parabolic flight campaign. This involved everything from defining the concept of operations, mechanical and electrical integration, to completing the full safety documentation required by the Zero Gravity Corporation. The whole design philosophy was very low-cost and DIY – using as many off-the-shelf components as possible, and manufacturing everything else that was too custom at home through 3D printing.
The experiment was conducted across a sequence of weightless parabolas. Each microgravity window was brief: about 20 seconds. To make most of this brief period, everything had to be precisely timed and executed. This meant I had to practise the entirety of the flight at home, to fully understand all the motions in under the familiar circumstances of 1g. This involved not only performing mock runs of the experiment, but also practising the dynamics of the in-between periods during the hypergravity portions of the flight – i.e. when the plane recovers from the weightlessness-inducing freefall, and its passengers experience about 1.8g acceleration. In practice, this meant going from facing the experiment to lying next to it, and preparing the hardware for the next parabola.
What made the project especially rewarding was the end-to-end nature of my involvement: from the conception of the research to the final execution and data collection. It was a rare opportunity to move from abstract planning to hands-on operations in a real microgravity environment – bridging my experience in ISS operations with the challenges of conducting science under flight conditions.
Conclusion: Staying Grounded While Reaching Orbit
Across all of these projects – analogue missions, real-time operations, parabolic research – the unifying thread is people: how they adapt, perform, and problem-solve in unfamiliar environments under non-negotiable constraints.
Being part of a flight control team during a live ISS mission gives you a certain lens on complexity. So does navigating a simulated suit malfunction during an EVA test, or coordinating field logistics in a remote location. These aren’t separate experiences – they inform each other.
Human spaceflight isn’t a binary of “real” versus “analogue”; it’s a continuum. And somewhere in that space, I’ve found a professional home – quietly switching between simulation and orbit, between data and people, always learning what it takes to keep humans working beyond Earth.