Deep dive into Space with artist and astronaut Richelle Ellis

*Richelle Ellis Photographed by Chelsea Gohd*

Meet Richelle Ellis. Artist & Analog astronaut.
Wondering how these two worlds collide? Find out below in this fascinating interview - a long read.

The Lab Mag: As a child, were you a stargazer?

Richelle Ellis: I grew up in a small town called Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains in CA, with very little light pollution. I thought it was common to be able to see the night sky at 180 degrees, completely immersed in glittering starlight. It wasn't until I moved to Los Angeles that I realised that at night, I was lucky to see a couple stars, usually a nearby planet and a satellite, scraping across the sky.

As a child I always felt separate from the night sky, its distance was daunting to me. Rather than stargazing, I sought moments for “Earth gazing,” to see the world from an aerial perspective. When I saw Earth from above, whether from an airplane window or a mountain peak, the patterns below captivated my imagination. Usually people are interested in space exploration due to stargazing because they want to know what is out there. But for me, it was “Earth gazing” — to see our home planet in a new way—that brought me to marvel at the sky.

The Lab Mag: You told us about Earthrise in terms of how that photograph looking back down on Earth started so much. Can you talk about that image?

Richelle Ellis Yes, this is one of my favorite images yet. The famous Earthrise photograph, the most globally collected image in the world, was taken on a whim. It was not part of NASA’s original lunar photography shot list provided for the Apollo 8 crewed mission to the Moon. Astronaut Bill Anders deviated from the assigned photo plan to capture Earth, as it passed quickly in lunar orbit. That single act of deviating from the rules in a creative impulse, shifted our worldview entirely – a clear expression of human creativity in space.

The photograph was cropped and flipped so Earth appeared rising over the lunar surface, published in 1968. This photograph moved hearts and minds, globally. It propelled the global environmental movement leading to the creation of Earth Day. A single creative act enabled us all to realise we are on one interconnected, living, and ever-evolving planet floating in space: our first global self-portrait.

Since Earthrise, countless satellite images infuse our everyday experience, whether it is on the home screen of our smartphone or the GPS visual maps in cars, we interact with Earth-imagery regularly. We are oversaturated with satellite imagery – it is everywhere. And, we are forgetting the impact that Earthrise once had, elevating environmental awareness and advocacy. For me, I want to use art and creativity to cultivate new Earthrise moments – introducing various artistic media and modes of making to offer new ways of seeing ourselves in space. We can’t forget this view and what it can do for us.

*Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders’ photograph of the first earthrise witnessed by humans. ©NASA*

The Lab Mag Actor William Shatner went into space recently, and when he looked out, he thought he would feel awe and majesty, but it had the opposite effect; he felt cold, dark, and completely alone. It made him appreciate our blue jewel. Do you ever have feelings similar to that?

Richelle Ellis Absolutely, his reaction rings true and is humbling and eye-opening. From space, Earth is what provides a sense of hope, life and light -- and Earth as we know it is in trouble. Of course it will endure beyond us, but it is impossible to not have compassion and deep grief for its fleeting biodiversity and irreversible changes. For this reason, I am deeply committed to encouraging the “overview effect”— a sensation reported by countless astronauts when seeing Earth from above and realising it is one complex living system. By seeing Earth differently, it changes and redefines our relationship to it. If we can experience the “overview effect” first-hand or in the interpretations of others, perhaps we'll feel moved to protect it. Space is vast, cold, dark, isolating – we have so much here that we often take for granted unless we shift our gaze.

The Lab Mag Maybe that makes the space tourism industry a good thing. The more people experience it, the more it will change our behaviour.

Richelle Ellis I could not agree more. I believe that the more people travel to space and share their experiences, the more collaboratively we will discuss what it means to live on a self-contained planet with limited back-up plans. That is to say that not everyone needs to go to space to experience the “overview effect,” as it can be attainable through various modes of expression - storytelling, visuals, simulations, and more.

We are waking up to the notion of being a global society, it is inevitable. Whether evidenced in the lived experience of the global Covid-19 pandemic or the instant spread of a meme on social media, we are connected – for better or for worse. Now, more so than ever, it is clear that individual actions don't happen in isolation, but rather influence everything else around the world.

As we venture deep into cyberspace and gain access to outerspace, we better understand who we are in relation to everything else. It is with our networked society and budding hive mind that we are waking up to our impact on each other and the environment. We may be here for only a moment in the history of Earth, but it is space that enables us to consider timelines differently, relative to our human history. Here we see ourselves in a new context, as collective versus an individual.

The Lab Mag So you've trained as an astronaut. Can you please tell us about that?

Richelle Ellis I am undergoing astronaut training to be eligible for space travel. To do so, I am getting certifications to prepare me for space as well as participate in analog astronaut programs, which provide simulated missions on the Moon and Mars. What this means is I wear a spacesuit every time I step outside; cook with all dehydrated ingredients; oversee the habitat controls and resources; communicate with mission control, simulate communication delays that occur in space; and much more. These immersive experiences off-world help cultivate new understandings of what it would be like physically, socially, and in my case -- creatively.

Prior to astronaut training, I travelled around the world with artist residency programs at research facilities, start-ups, and science-art organizations interpreting various environments through art making. Years later, I spoke with astronaut Nicole Stott about her experience in astronaut training and she described it as living in confined spaces, experiencing extreme environments, and surviving in an enclosed system. Surprisingly, I was already well on my way to learning about training as an astronaut from my expedition-inspired artist journey.

I sought out space-related artist residencies: creating site-specific artworks at the Biosphere 2, a famous enclosure in Arizona that contains several different biomes; the ocean, the mangroves, and the rainforest, all within a contained environment, replicating Earth systems. I was the resident artist at Planet, a satellite company and made art for Relativity Space, a 3D printing rocket company. I traveled to the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation called HI-SEAS — this is a small habitat enclosure on a volcano that looks like Mars — and then another mission called Lunares, a lunar mission in Poland with a small crew of analog astronauts.

On these analog space missions, my role is Head of Creative Research, considering creativity as we move off-world. How does it change the materials we use, the stories we tell, and create new forms of making? How does creativity affect crew dynamics? People don't think about this, but as we send more people into space, we're going to have the same people problems that happen here on Earth, causing conflicts on missions. I’m exploring how creativity can help cultivate flow states to reduce stress and improve crew dynamics, creating comradery and providing more ways of translating astronaut experiences for broader publics.

The Lab Mag People that don't get along in space sounds problematic.

Richelle Ellis Part of the training is psychological. How do you handle stress? So many people experienced this feeling of living in isolation during quarantine. It's not much different from that.

The Lab Mag Will space travel be handed over to robots in the future because they can handle the environment?

Richelle Ellis Many people are advocating that we just send robots to these environments because the technology and equipment can withstand a seven month journey to Mars and the harsh conditions upon arrival. This continues to be a debated topic in the space community.

But again, I reflect on the hasty moment of breaking the rules to capture Earthrise, even though it was not on the approved shot list. Acts of spontaneity, inspiration and creative outbursts enable the most meaningful experiences for human connection and reflection. Sending more humans to space is important because that humanises it, giving meaning and an existential purpose to the mission.

The Lab Mag So you have all of this training. When do you hope to go to space?

Richelle Ellis I applied for three different space missions. Part of pursuing these astronaut missions and training is so that I will be completely ready if a spaceflight opportunity becomes available.

And until that day, I create art made for space. To date, I launched art on multiple rockets, etched art on side panels of satellites, flew a 16-foot sculpture to the stratosphere, and have a project going to the Moon aboard a lunar lander this year. Each of these projects connect me to space, co-creating with it as it affects and evolves everything I touch.

The Lab Mag So speaking of your art being in space, it is currently orbiting Earth on the International Space Station. Can you tell us about the Moon Gallery?

Richelle Ellis Yes, the Moon Gallery is an exciting project organised by the Moon Gallery Foundation, launched as part of the payload with NanoRacks, and brought up to the International Space Station(ISS) for almost a year. Sixty-four artists from around the world were invited to create a small artwork to be contained within a grid structure, forming a miniature petridish-like gallery.

*A close up of A Thousand to One painting by Richelle Ellis sequenced into synthetic DNA in miniature steel capsule.*

I created a painting of a crowd of people during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, considering our power by numbers to affect the spread. Since I cannot simply send a large painting to space, it was important to consider a material that is compact, lightweight, and resilient for space. With a collaborative team at Beyond Earth artist collective, we digitised the painting and converted it into binary code, ones and zeros. From there, it was sequenced into the ATGC structure of synthetic DNA. It served as a storage device for my artistic message, like a flash-drive, containing visual information. The acrylic painting is now housed in dehydrated synthetic DNA – appearing as a small piece of sand in a metal capsule - orbiting in the International Space Station.

*Payload for the Moon Gallery in the ISS steel capsule containing synthetic DNA with Richelle Ellis artwork. Close Up - Beyond Earth Artist Collective*

When this capsule is sent back to Earth, I will be able to retrieve the data stored in the DNA to convert ACGT to binary code, retrieving the digital data to print a digital version of my painting at 99% accuracy, even after it has flown to space and back. To reflect our humanity, the medium of DNA was the best expression of this artwork.

The Lab Mag Once the ship is up and running, I imagine an astronaut has a fair amount of time to observe the art?

Richelle Ellis I would not say they have a fair amount of time, as their schedule is tightly monitored. But, the Moon Gallery was on the shot list and included in other research initiatives. The artwork that was sent to the ISS was observed and photographed floating weightless above the Cupula window. During this time, astronauts could see how the artworks within the payload shifted and moved in weightlessness. The contents of the payload were recorded in flight, offering new research for the cameras used and the support structure containing the art payload. An Earth-based version of the Moon Gallery is touring at multiple exhibits across the globe.

*Inploration - Looking Within by Richelle Ellis*

The Lab Mag I want to ask you about Inploration Looking Within; how did it begin?

Richelle Ellis I started to think a lot about micro and macro scales and how our lens of the world changes depending on our proximity to it. I was working on a couple of projects with my collaborator, Lawrence Azerrad, and together we coined the word “inploration,” which means the act of venturing inside of oneself through introspection to understand the self relative to the greater cosmos.

We began looking at historical artifacts for introspection and discovered stereographs, that were created in the 1850’s as a tool to make 2D images look 3D, like the first version of a VR headset. We thought it was fascinating to bring this historical artefact as a method of viewing different scenes of our planet in this new way. We created a series of stereograph cards which include digital and hand-painted closeups of a leaf, insects, neural networks and celestial bodies, capturing both the micro and macro scales. These stereographs recently flew on Terran 1, a 3D printed rocket that flew to space recently with Relativity Space.

The Lab Mag Most people associate space with our collective future, that somewhere out there in that unknown void are all the answers to our current problems on planet Earth. Do you think there are answers in space to our future problems?

Richelle Ellis There's a story I often share; I was speaking to an elderly woman who said that in her lifetime, she thought that there would be flying cars because that was a story of the vision planted in her mind as a child. And she told me that later she realised that if she wanted that future to exist, she had to actively build it. I think there's a passivity in the way that we engage with the future. We conjured a belief that we can sit back and the future happens. If we want to live in a future we wish to see, we must actively shape it into reality. Space enables us to stretch ourselves to consider what seems impossible and make it real, moving towards the future in exponential leaps.

*Martian Rocks - detail by Richelle Ellis*

The Lab Mag Can you talk about your project Martian Rocks?

Richelle Ellis The Martian Rocks series was developed during the HI-SEAS space analog — a simulated mission on Mars. Located on Mauno Loa, a volcano in Hawaii, the other-worldly environment is coloured with a deep red regolith, the same material that exists on Mars. I was thinking a lot about how to venture to a place without interfering with it. Rather than exploiting it and taking the resources, how can I catalogue artefacts without disturbing the land?

During my analog mission, I used Martian dust as my pigment, to make paintings of the landscape; these beautiful regolith rocks and structures found during our extravehicular activities. Since we didn't want to use our water supply, I used saliva as my liquid medium to mix and paint these artworks, which are now underneath a series of microscopic lenses. My goal was to depict the sites and colours of the land visually, so that Earthlings can experience such far-reaching places.

The Lab Mag Speaking of myth-making, we're moving past this idea of Hollywood's version of the terrifying alien and asking bigger questions. Do you think aliens are in our future? And if so, what's your take on it?

Richelle Ellis Aliens are absolutely in our future, but I don't think they take the form that we often imagine. Part of the research that I was working on at the HI-SEAS simulation was venturing into caves with astrobiologists as part of NASA Goddard’s research program to examine extremophiles. These are microscopic living organisms that exist and thrive in extreme environments.

As we venture further into underwater depths, we’re uncovering life forms that have never seen the light of day that have evolved in some of the most harsh and extreme environments and that are often at a very small scale. I think that these alien-like inhabitants is what we might find first, both on and off Earth.

Maybe there is intelligent life out there. But I do not think that in our lifetime we will make contact…I could be wrong.

The Lab Mag And what excites you the most about the future?

Richelle Ellis Thinking about our global problems and issues in different ways. So many people talk about how overwhelming it is that we have recently reached over 8 billion people and that we have become globally connected as a planet, but honestly, I think there is power in our numbers. Perhaps one of the most exciting things in our future is we can mobilise many people to take one small action and that can have ripples of impact across the planet.

It’s an exciting time, but I do feel that this is an important moment as a call to action to artists and creatives to visualize futures worth striving for. We can no longer be driven by this vision of space that's been only authored by those in sci-fi metaverse or from the NASA perspective in the ’60s. How can we encourage more participation in visualizing alternative futures so that we can catch up to that vision in our lifetime? Taking action through inspiration, like our home planet depends on it.