When we think about childhood dreams, many of us imagine adventures in space. But turning the wish to “become an astronaut” into reality is a far more complex and unclear journey.
That was exactly the kind of doubt that accompanied 24-year-old American Katie Mulry. Now a master’s student in Aerospace Engineering at ISAE-Supaero in France, she remembers the moment she decided to pursue a space career.
“I just kept wondering: where do I even start?” she says. There’s no clear guide for those who aim that high.
Mulry eventually found her path through Asclepios, an international program entirely run by students, which organizes simulated space missions in extreme environments on Earth. She took part in the second mission in 2021–2022, living as a “trainee astronaut” inside a Swiss mountain. Now, she has helped coordinate the project’s fifth edition.
A Space Base… Under the Alps
Mulry’s team — made up of nine students from different countries — spent more than two weeks isolated in the former military complex of Gotthard in Ticino. Once highly classified, the facility is carved deep into the Swiss Alps and was used as a fortress for decades.
The site was chosen for its remarkable characteristics:
- 3.5 km of tunnels carved into rock,
- a constant temperature of 6°C year-round,
- 2,000 meters of altitude,
- and two enormous cannons that once had a range of up to 26 km.
The cold climate, constant fog, and completely hidden setting explain why the location served so well as a military installation — and today, it makes a perfect scenario for simulating a lunar base.
Living as If We Were on the Moon
The underground landscape was prepared to mimic a colony built inside lunar caves — structures similar to lava tubes found on the Moon. There, the team simulates real routines:
equipment control, emergency responses, psychological tests, and continuous coexistence in a confined space.
“The goal is to understand how humans would behave under extreme conditions outside Earth,” Mulry explains. “If we can study that here, agencies can better support astronauts on future missions.”
From Mythology to Modern Training
The name Asclepios refers to the son of the god Apollo — the same inspiration behind the famous Apollo Program, responsible for the first human steps on the Moon.
“It’s like carrying on that legacy,” says Mulry.
And even though the mountain environment is harsh, to her the work represents more than just an academic exercise:
“I love studying human spaceflight. I want to help make life in space safer… and hopefully, one day, experience it myself.”
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