Speaker profile: astronaut Mindy Howard

Mindy Howard is realising her childhood dream. In 2023 she will travel to space, leading a mission as an astronaut, coach and trainer. 

Mindy Howard is symbolic of someone who has set out to passionately achieve her dreams and is reaching the uppermost heights in her chosen field.

Mindy's life ambition was always to become an astronaut. Narrowed down from thousands to the last 200 candidates, she was selected by NASA as a “Highly Qualified Astronaut Candidate”, following the conclusion of her Ph.D (Mindy obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Industrial Engineering in the U.S. and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology). Despite not making the final selection to become an astronaut, she refused to let her dream go without a fight.

Mindy's background started out in the oil industry. In her last job at Royal Dutch Shell, she was the Sustainability Manager as she tried to change hearts and minds, within the company and the leadership, to become more sustainable. Travelling the globe, working in over 35 different countries, Mindy was able to explore different nationalities and appreciate different people and their cultures.

After leaving the oil industry, Mindy decided to reignite her dream and complete her training on what it felt like to be a commercial astronaut while undergoing 6Gs in a human centrifuge. It was when she saw others in the training struggling in the centrifuge, that she saw a need to help commercial astronauts psychologically prepare for the rigours of space flight.

Striving towards her goal of becoming an astronaut, and wanting to help others do the same, Mindy harnessed her academic and professional skills to create the first and only psychological space training, called “Inner Space Training”. Now working for Blue Abyss, the world’s first commercial astronaut training centre as the Director of Inner Space Training, Mindy's program is the first psychological training for astronauts in the emerging field of commercial space.

As one of the few commercial astronaut trainers in this new field, she has been asked to accompany a team of people who will win a “once in a lifetime” trip to space. The competition, called ‘Career Astronauts’, will see Mindy take on the role of astronaut trainer and coach for the lucky winners and will achieve her dream by flying with them to space in 2023.