The Artemis and Moon to Mars programs have forever changed expectations about the social and psychological conditioning, as teams embark on multi-year space missions.

Studies conducted by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) in astronaut training analogs like Antarctica have challenged how we think about leadership, team cohesion and high performance. Studies like NASA’s multi-year ICE (Isolation, Confinement and Extreme conditions) study, for example, have looked at the role of leadership in team dynamics, as candidate astronauts ‘over-winter’ in Antarctica, under conditions approximating a Moon or Mars settlement. These and other learnings from astronaut selection and conditioning around the world have highlighted the importance of traits like the ability to self-regulate one’s emotions. The ability to process ‘failure’ for example (along with the associated emotions of frustration and feelings of incompetence) is a critical requirement for both astronauts and leaders of every description.

Initially developed by NASA’s Director of Astrophysics, Charlie Pellerin in the wake of failed missions and shuttle disasters, the 4-D program became a benchmark for leadership development in NASA and around the world. Since inception, the program has been voluntarily completed by over 1,500 NASA teams, contributing to NASA being named Best Place to Work in US government for the twelfth year in a row (May 2024).

Outside of NASA, the program has been embraced by over 100,000 public and private sector leaders in over 75 countries over the past two decades. If you want to become confident in your ability to lead in any situation, this is the way to do it.