MDRS Crew 45
February 26 - March 11, 2006

The crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. The MDRS will be active for a 7 month period.

Name	Speciality
Peter Kokh	Expedition Leader/Commander
Laurel-Ruth Ladd	Executive Officer/Logistics
Guido Meyer	Crew Journalist
Leslie Wickman	Crew Biologist
William Fung-Schwarz	Human Factors/Health & Safety Officer
Steven Winikoff	Chief Engineer
Ben Huset	Crew Astronomer/Assistant Engineer
Chip Proser	Crew Videographer/Documentarian
Hugh S. Gregory	Crew Scientist/Project MAST Surveyor

Peter Kokh	Peter Kokh joined the National Space Society, then the National Space Institute, as "Life Member #2" shortly after it was founded by Werner von Braun in 1974. As a result of an L5 Society chapter colonizing effort by members of the Chicago and Minnesota chapters (including fellow MDRS crew #34 member, Ben Huset!) in September 1986, he helped cofound the (Milwaukee) Lunar Reclamation Society (L5) chapter of NSS. He was chair of ISDC '98, held in Milwaukee. And in 2001, he created and continues to maintain the Space Chapter Hub website to provide a common resource watering hole for chapters of the National Space Society, the Mars Society, and the Moon Society. He has served on the Moon Society Board and as Moon Society Chapters-Coordinator since the fall of 2002, and was elected Moon Society President in August 2004. But Kokh is best known as the editor and principal contributor to Moon Miners' Manifesto. Known widely as "Moon Miners" but referred to by Peter as "the Manifesto." Published ten issues a year continuously since December, 1986, MMM celebrated its 19th anniversary with the December 2004 issue #191. Currently MMM serves several NSS chapters as well as the members of the Moon Society, its principal client. At the International Space Development Conference in Denver in May 1988, Kokh and Dr. Gay Canough began brainstorming strategies to take the discussion of a privately designed and funded lunar polar orbiter capable of searching for water ice at the Moon's poles, out of the realm of paper studies and on to the road to realization. This quickly led to the Lunar Polar Orbiter Conference held in Houston in March, 1989.at which Dr. Alan Binder came aboard to lead the design study. The rest is History. Lunar Prospector orbited the Moon in 1998-9 and far outperformed our wildest expectations. The lesson: determined activists could actually accomplish something of real significance. Peter has tried his hand as an amateur space frontier artist by experimenting with "lunar paints" made entirely from materials producible from moondust. He is also the designer and producer of the 30-some sets of "gravity bricks", many owned by chapters of the Moon Society, the Mars Society, and the National Space Society, floating around North America. A proud Milwaukeean all his life, Peter's hobbies include astronomy, hiking, his dogs, running a website for his "challenged" inner city Milwaukee neighborhood, and keeping up his home and Wisconsin north woods cottage. The big secret, of course, is that despite Peter's clear passionate interest in the Moon, he started out as "a Mars man" and remains an enthused and dedicated Mars settlement advocate to this day. His rag, MMM, devotes at least one issue a year to Mars, and as chair of ISDC 98, he gave Robert Zubrin the plenary session he needed to announce the founding of the Mars Society to take place in Boulder two and a half months later. Peter is an active core member of the Wisconsin Mars Society and served previously on MDRS Crew #34 in February, 2005.
Laurel-Ruth Ladd	Laurel-Ruth Ladd is a Canadian, born and raised. A bilingual baby-boomer, she is a true "child of Apollo," whose fascination with aerospace predates even Sputnik. She is a two time graduate of the University of Western Ontario (BA and MBA). She holds a Fellowship of the Institute of Canadian Bankers and has a variety of certifications ranging from applied ecology to androgogy. This diverse background led her to a field of research few have touched. Convinced that traditional management has little relevance in non-traditional settings, Laurel has been busy filling that gap. Component Integration in Complex Closed/Semi-Closed Systems (CICCS, pronounced kicks) is the result. CICCS is the product of rethinking, reorganizing, and often rejecting aspects of current management theories and practices to deal with the reality of unusual conditions and specialized groups. As a member of Crew #45 (Moon Mission Sim #1) Laurel will be working on CICCS strategies dealing with wetware support. These include working with other crewmembers on human factors and site management while continuing work on a sustainable space frontier diet. Laurel enjoys organic vegetable gardening and, when fuel prices allow, flying a C-172 out of Les Cèdres, west of Montreal. She shares her life with three males (two human and one feline) and many fish. You will be delighted to know that she has yet to seriously injure any of them with either her cooking or her flying.
Guido Meyer	Guido Meyer. Somebody who's born the same year the first man walked on the Moon just had to turn out being a space journalist. I was interested in space since I was a kid, I played with Lego, build my own spaceships - and now I'm covering space stories for german radio and I even get paid for it! Between playing with "Lego space" and being a science journalist, I studied politics, history and literature and the University of Bonn in Germany. I also went to American University in Washington, D.C. where I studied American Politics and Journalism. In 2002 I got a scholarship from a radio station in Berlin which led me to take part in a Media Fellowships Program at Duke University in Durham, N.C. In 1997, I got another scholarship from the John McCloy Fund/American Council on Germany. They paid for my travelling through the western states of the US where I was doing research on the plague. I came back and did several stories about the plague in the US, on campgrounds, forests etc. From North Carolina I flew to Miami in spring of 2002, got myself an apartment - and since then I'm living in Bonn as well as on South Beach. What better place to live than in Miami Beach, what better place to work for a space guy than Florida? I'm going back and forth every couple of months, I do my space stories in Miami, send my mp3s to the radio stations in Germany and they are broadcasting them. From time to time, I visit the Kennedy Space Center, NASA in Houston or space conferences in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando etc. I also cover stories live (over the phone), eg. the landing of "Discovery". I'm working for several public radio stations in Germany. Many of them have daily or weekly science programs, and they all cover space. When I'm not travelling through outer space I travel through inner space - I like scuba diving. Again, the Florida Keys are a great place to do this!
Leslie Wickman	Leslie Wickman, currently director of the Center for Research in Science at Azusa Pacific University, is a former Lockheed Martin engineer recognized by NASA for her contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station, as well as an internationally respected research scientist and engineering consultant. For more than a decade, Wickman was an engineer for Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space in Sunnyvale, Calif., where she worked on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station Programs, receiving commendations from NASA for her contributions and being designated as Lockheed's Corporate Astronaut. For the last six years, she has worked as a research scientist with the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica on the technical and political aspects of various national defense issues. She is currently conducting research on sustainable water reclamation methods, and also serves as a consulting scientist on crew systems and human factors considerations for future space vehicles, and extreme environment physiology projects. As director of the Center for Research in Science at Azusa Pacific University, Wickman's responsibilities include addressing the relationship between science and theology. She has lectured extensively around the world on satellite servicing, astronaut operations, mission planning, and space physiology issues. Wickman holds a master's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and a doctoral degree in human factors and biomechanics, both from Stanford University. Prior to her graduate studies, she graduated magna cum laude from Willamette University with a bachelor's degree in political science. Wickman is a dedicated athlete who plays competitive beach volleyball and women's professional tackle football, and also enjoys surfing, skiing, rollerblading, tennis and most other sports. Other interests include music, board games, environmental issues, astronomy, exploring the solar system, and ministering to the less fortunate on this planet.
William Fung-Schwarz	William Fung-Schwarz was born in Tallahassee, Florida in 1974. Rural central Georgia was his childhood home. Boy Scouts, church activities, and marching band kept him busy during his formative years. He credits his parents and childhood mentors with his love of space and learning. In 1989, Schwarz earned his Eagle Scout Award. In 1997, he graduated from Georgia College & State University earning a Bachelors of Science in Nursing with a focus on Health Education. Following a call from the west, he and his best friend moved to Salt Lake City and began exploring the Wasatch Mountains and Utah deserts. In addition to working as a pediatric and medical-surgical Registered Nurse, Schwarz served with Volunteer Service Overseas in Ekaterinburg, Russia. While in Siberia, he helped develop nurse and patient education at the Sverdlovsk Oblast Hospital. After his return to the United States, he became involved in the Space Nursing Society. During a 2-year commute to San Francisco, Schwarz earned a Masters of Science in Nursing with a focus on Occupational and Environmental Health from UCSF; additionally, he earned his Adult Nurse Practitioner license. As part of his graduate education, Schwarz was chosen for a US National Occupational Research Agenda and US CDC National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health Traineeships. Schwarz has worked as an occupational healthcare provider in Denali National Park, Alaska; San Francisco, California; Ekaterinburg, Russia; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Today he lives with Eddie Fung, his partner of five years. He is an avid student and enjoys snow camping, light mountaineering, swimming, and volunteering with persons with disabilities. Schwarz is currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing at the University of Utah. His dissertation study is entitled, "Occupational Psychosocial Factors of Planetary Analogue Environments." Schwarz currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Space Nursing Society and the newly organized Space Nursing Foundation. Schwarz attributes his success to his mother, father, two sisters (Heather and Dawn), and Scoutmater Joe. Schwarz also attributes his academic success to Marion Gillen, Barbara Burgel, Becky Christian, and Kurt Hegmann. He said that his nephew Liam is his inspiration. William hopes to help nurses and other allied health professionals (such as pharmacists, dieticians, emergency medical personnel, and respiratory therapists) to become more involved in private sector and university space life science research. When asked about his participation in the MDRS, he stated that, "it is during these experiments and during this type of exploration that we discover the technologies and spirit which bring people together to become better stewards of our Mother Earth."
Steven Winikoff	Steven Winikoff is that most dangerous of creatures, a programmer carrying a screwdriver. A Unix system administrator and manager of the Unix system administration group in Concordia University's central computing facility, he also occasionally teaches part-time in computer science at Concordia, Montreal, Quebec and more recently has begun work on a doctorate in computer science. His master's thesis was about machine learning, and his doctoral research topic is question answering, a subfield of natural language processing. When not sitting in front of a monitor or working in the machine room, he can usually be found playing the clarinet.
Ben Huset	Ben Huset spends much of his efforts giving hands on multimedia presentations to K-12 school groups, home schools, science fiction conventions, including Marscon, Convergence and MiniCon and civic groups on various space topics. Helped staff and then trained and managed staff for space education displays in planetariums, malls, theater lobbies and conventions. Past Director of MN Spaceweek. Helped coordinate display materials, manage display sites and trained and scheduled staffing. Helped staff NASA International Space Station display at MN State fair assisting visitors with hands on computer simulation displays. Created panel displays for Space Shuttle flights and ISS missions for local planetarium lobby and other venues , STS- 26 to current, often with realtime audio and computer world map displays. Staff writer/photographer for L-5 chapter newsletter L-5 Points. Later moved up to editor/publisher of Downrange. Wrote a syndicated monthly news and commentary column on Soviet Space Activity - Mirwatch. Co-authored article for Final Frontier magazine. Became board member, assistant director then executive director of MN Space Frontier Society. Elected regional board member of National Space Society. Campaigned for Presidential Candidate John Glenn. Founding Member of the Mars Society attended many of its conferences including the founding conference. Established and managed an electronic bulletin board system for the easy exchange of information and electronic mail for the Space development community. Set up a desk top publishing system for a non-profit organization's daily operations and monthly newsletter. Set up a presentation computer graphics system for the organization. Currently developing World Wide Web pages for the many organizations that I'm a member of. Private pilot and General Class Amateur Radio operator KA0PSQ! Currently living with a wife, two teen-age kids and 5 cats and lots of computers.
Chip Proser	Chip Proser has lifelong experience in virtually all aspects of show business and broadcast media. Proser has worked in television as an Emmy Award-winning cameraman, director and producer on public affairs, dramatic series, news, promotional films and commercials. As a writer Proser has worked in most aspects of the business from highest budget Hollywood studio productions to television movies, pilots and syndicated shows. He did major rewrites on Top Gun and Iceman and created I nnerspace. In his career, Proser has also worked with Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Peter Guber, Joel Silver, Francis Coppola, and Paramount, Universal, MGM, Disney, Warner Brothers, Columbia, ABC, CBS, NBC, and HBO. Recently Proser created the current Sworn to Secrecy series on the History Channel and Pearson International, worldwide, and co-founded the Documedia Group. He created the award-winning Secrets of War.com website which is an adjunct to the series. Proser holds a degree in Film and Broadcasting and has studied computer graphics and visualization at the American Film Institute. He has consulted for Broderbund-Living Books and wrote the intersticial interactive story for Top Gun-Fire at Will for Spectrum Holobyte - Microprose - Hasbro. Proser is known for his science fiction and military adventure scripts including "Interface" which was named "one of the ten best screenplays never made" by American Film Magazine. Chip's daughter, an artist, created our mission patch design.
Hugh S. Gregory	Hugh S. Gregory is professionally an avid Spaceflight Historian based in Vancouver Canada, he has worked as an Engineers' Surveyor, an Industrial Paramedic/E.M.T. (Industrial Ambulance Officer) and managed his own Occupational Health and Safety Program consulting service. He lectures occasionally in local schools on spaceflight history and astronomy. Hugh owns and operates the H.R. McMillan Planetarium's affiliated space and astronomy educational BBS "SpaceBase(tm)" and was the moderator of the 8 internationally distributed "SB-" prefixed space news service echoes for the amateur FidoNet network, reaching out to over 5,000 amateur BBS's world wide for over 15 years. SpaceBase is also the affiliated BBS service for R.A.S.C.'s Vancouver Centre and will distribute the data captured each week by the C.A.R.O. Super Nova Search Project when it comes on line. His latest research includes the conceptual design theory work on the E.L.D.S.R.R. space reactor (which he gifted to JPL back in July of 2002), Project M.O.S.S. (Musk Observatory Supernova Search) for the Musk Mars Desert Observatory in Hanksville, Utah and Project M.A.S.T. (Mars Analogue Simulation Trainer), a VR simulator for the Mars Society to help train and prepare crews for their simulations of Mars surface exploration at the Mars Desert Research Station. Since December 2004 he has been the Mars Society's Chief Documents Editor for the M.D.R.S. and F.M.A.R.S. research stations, correlating and maintaining the operations manuals and training materials relative to each facility. He was selected for and led M.D.R.S. Crew 35 (February-March 2005) as Mission Commander and Crew Astronomer (to set up Project MOSS) and since returning from analogue Mars he has shouldered the additional duties of relief CapCom, Engineering Office on Watch, Training Materials Developer and is a Paramedic member of the Mars Society's Flight Surgeon team. He "flew" two additional MDRS missions in 2005, ,joining the privately funded research missions of Crew FLAME in June and Crew MAST in October. On Crew MAST he and his wife Anne became the first married couple to take up residence and work at a Mars Society Habitat. He has just accepted an invitation to join the Musk Observatory's Astronomer Team. He's produced and sold videos on "Voyager 2 at Neptune", "The Gas Planets", "SSTO - The DC-X", "Soviet Space Disasters" and "The Flight Of Buran - The Russian Shuttle Story". His slide/video shows have been appearing at Conventions across North America and also overseas for over 16 years now, including 10 world cons. On weekends he's a private pilot, amateur astronomer (Member RASC), cricket umpire, and enjoys hiking in the Rockies with his wife Anne. This is Hugh's fourth MDRS "mission" in the past 12 months and he joins Crew 45 as their Crew Scientist - Surveyor, to attempt to gather the final data need for his Project M.A.S.T. On this "flight" all of his Surveying will be done "in-sim", to help the Mars Society and the Moon Society gather additional data on just how surveying could be done on Mars and the Moon by a surface exploration team.