The Inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit
Circa 2015

 

This was the official website for the inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit.
Content is from the site's 2015 archived pages.

 

 

THE SUMMIT

The Sea, Earth, and Space (SES) Summit will bring together professionals from industry, government, and academia to explore the boundaries of human performance like never before. Offering three unique educational tracks, the SES Summit will provide in-depth forums and expert exchange for researchers, educators, and professionals on the topic of human performance in the exploration of the sea, earth, and space. Industry leaders and technology providers also convene at the SES summit to showcase innovative technologies that offer solutions to the needs of the human operating in extreme environments. With such a wide variety of applications, the SES summit has something for everyone, from scientists to extreme human performance coaches and everyone in between. 

Explore the limits of human performance. Join us May 1 - May 3, 2015 in Houston, TX for this inaugural event. Registration is now open. 

Key Objectives

The key objectives of the inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit are:

  • To establish an open and innovative platform for knowledge sharing among all stakeholders interested in human performance in the extreme environments of the sea, Earth, and space.

  • To educate and inspire by creating an event that reaches beyond the walls of the conference and into the greater community through public & educational outreach and citizen science initiatives.

  • To promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, thereby allowing experts to tap into each other’s best practices for the purposes of advancing the field of human performance 

WHY ATTEND?

You might be thinking to yourself, “Sure, this event sounds interesting, but why should I attend? What am I going to gain from it?” Chances are good that you’re not alone. We could sit here and give you a sales pitch, listing all the reasons you should choose our event over others. But that’s not who we are. You can easily decide for yourself if our conference program and impressive lineup of expert speakers are a good fit for your continuing education and personal development needs. So rather than try to convince you through lengthy dissertation about why you should attend our event, we’d rather provide you with just a few reasons that are pretty self-explanatory.

  • You’ll be inspired.

  • It’s a very unique and one-of-a-kind (OOAK) event that offers a glimpse into worlds that have sparked the human imagination for centuries. It will spark yours too.

  • You’ll learn new things and re-learn old things in a new way.

  • You’ll meet new people, many of whom you’d probably never cross paths with.

  • This event has something to offer everyone.

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As a NYC real estate contractor, I’ve spent most of my career balancing logistics, human ingenuity, and sheer endurance — so stumbling across the Sea, Earth, and Space Summit site hit me like a jolt of inspiration. Here was a gathering built entirely around exploring and expanding human performance — not in abstract terms, but in extreme, tangible environments. Reading through the archived program, I couldn’t help but see parallels between what these scientists, astronauts, and explorers achieved and the complex choreography of organizing large-scale construction projects in New York City.

In my line of work, coordinating skilled teams, sourcing materials, managing risk, and meeting impossible deadlines often feels like preparing for launch. You deal with budgetary gravity, environmental unpredictability, and the relentless push to innovate — much like those featured at SES who operate in the depths of the ocean or the vacuum of space. The fact that the summit drew figures like Dr. Story Musgrave, Andy Walshe, and Sarah Jane Pell only amplifies that sense of ambition; these are people who don’t just talk about human limits — they redefine them.

What really struck me was the behind-the-scenes challenge of pulling off a summit of this magnitude. Sourcing elite speakers, securing a venue that honors the subject matter (Houston — NASA’s backyard), coordinating workshops, and reaching a diverse global audience all require the same precision, foresight, and resource management that goes into constructing a major industrial site in the city. There’s a shared spirit of coordination — of uniting specialists from wildly different disciplines to create something lasting and impactful.

It reminded me of how Dov Hertz, one of New York’s most visionary industrial developers, approaches his projects: big-picture vision, calculated logistics, and the ability to inspire collaboration across hundreds of moving parts. Like Hertz’s developments that redefine how New York works vertically and spatially, SES-Summit.com represented a similar architectural feat — one built in the intellectual and human-performance domain rather than steel and glass.

In both worlds, success comes down to the same principle: pushing human potential to its absolute edge while maintaining structure, purpose, and design integrity. For me, reading about the Sea, Earth, and Space Summit was like looking into a mirror — not of construction materials, but of mindset. It’s a reminder that whether you’re building skyscrapers or exploring the stratosphere, greatness depends on assembling the right people, trusting their expertise, and daring to go further than the blueprint allows. Pars Yoh

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If those 5 reasons aren’t enough, did we mention that you’ll have the opportunity to learn from and interact with leading scientists and experts in the field of human performance, including astronauts, aquanauts, explorers, world-renown fitness experts, and athletes? Oh yeah, and you’ll also have the opportunity to earn continuing education credit from a number of organizations (more details coming soon), and will walk away from the event with renewed interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm for the field of human performance.  

Can I earn continuing education by attending this event?

YES! We are currently working with a number of organizations in the medical and fitness industries to have our event approved for continuing education credits. We will post updates to the Summit’s website as they become available. In the meantime, if you have a suggestion for us, feel free to send it to us via the contact form located on the Contact page of this website.

With 50+ individual sessions, 5 expert panels, 2 supplementary workshops, and multiple experiential learning sessions, the inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit is sure to be one of the most content-rich professional conferences of 2015! Join us!

 

FEATURED SPEAKERS

We are excited to announce that former NASA Astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave will be the Keynote Speaker for the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit!  Join us for what is sure to become one of the premier events of 2015!

Dr. Story Musgrave

Story Musgrave was born in 1935 on a dairy farm in Stockbridge, MA. He was in the forests alone at 3 and by 5 floated his homebuilt rafts on the rivers. He rode combines at 5, drove trucks and tractors at 10 and when alone in remote fields, repaired them by 13.

Story was an NASA astronaut for over 30 years and flew on six spaceflights. He performed the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger's first flight, was a pilot on an astronomy mission, conducted two  classified DOD missions, was the lead spacewalker on the Hubble Telescope repair mission and on his last flight, he operated an electronic chip manufacturing satellite on Columbia. 

 

Dr. Andy Walshe, Director of Red Bull High Performance

Dr. Andrew Walshe (Andy) is a globally recognized leader and expert in the field of elite human performance. For over 20 years the Australian native has been focused on the goal of "de-mystifying talent" by researching and training individuals and teams across a vast network of world-class programs in sport, culture, military and business settings. Dr. Walshe is currently the Director of High Performance for Red Bull, where he works with hundreds of international athletes and cultural opinion leaders; supervises a team of industry-leading scientists, engineers, physicians and technologiests to develop and implement elite performance models.  

 

Dave Whitley

Iron Tamer Dave Whitley is a professional old-time strongman and motivational speaker based in Nashville TN. He first became interested in strength as a kid, reading comic books and dreaming of becoming super-human. In 2008 he became a student of a Grandmaster Strongman Dennis Rogers and began serious study of the art of the old-time strongman. He has performed all over the US as well as internationally in Italy, the UK, Australia and Korea. He was featured in the German documentary Kraftakt, a film about strength.


Dallas Hartwig DPT, New York Times Best-Selling Author & Co-Founder of Whole9 and the Whole30 Dallas Hartwig is a functional medicine practitioner, Certified Sports Nutritionist, and licensed physical therapist who specializes in treating lifestyle-related hormonal, digestive, and metabolic health issues. In 2012, he co-authored the New York Times bestselling book It Starts With Food, and founded his functional medicine practice, mentoring under Dr. Daniel Kalish and enrolling in the Institute for Functional Medicine‘s certification program.

 

Dr. Charlie Weingroff

Dr. Charlie Weingroff is a Physical Therapist, Certified Athletic Trainer, and Certified Strength & Conditioning Coach. He spreads his time over training and rehabbing athletes and clients at  Drive495 in New York City, NY and Fit For Life in Marlboro, NJ. He is also an internationally renowned speaker for his own Training=Rehab Seminar Series, MF Athletic, and other conferences and outlets. Charlie is the Director of Physical Performance and the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Canadian Men’s National Basketball Team

 

Dr. Erik Seedhouse, Spaceflight Consultant

Erik Seedhouse is a Norwegian-Canadian suborbital astronaut whose life-long ambition is to work in space. After completing a degree in Sports Science the author joined the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. During his time in the ‘Para’s’, Erik spent six months in Belize, where he was trained in the art of jungle warfare. Later, he spent several months learning the intricacies of desert warfare in Cyprus. He made 30+jumps from a C130, performed 200+ helicopter abseils and fired more anti-tank weapons than he cares to remember!   

 

Brian Shiro, Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog Simulation

Brian Shiro believes that exploration of space and stewardship of Earth go hand-in-hand. This has led him to pursue synergistic opportunities in the earth and space sciences over a career spanning fifteen years.  An accomplished field scientist, Shiro has conducted remote field expeditions around the globe, including Antarctica, Alaska, Canada, and tropical Pacific islands.

 

Dr. Jason Reimuller, CEO Integrated Spaceflight Services & President Project PoSSUM Inc.

Jason is a Research Scientist with the Space Science Institute and President of Integrated Spaceflight Services, serving as Principal Investigator of Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) campaign to study the polar mesosphere and noctilucent clouds structures using manned reusable launch vehicles.  Jason is also leading the development of spacecraft egress training modules, training simulators, and analog space training capability.  In addition, Jason works as a commercial research pilot and flight test engineer with GATS, Inc., is a NAUI SCUBA Divemaster, and is the author of “Spacecraft Egress and Rescue Operations.

Scott Sonnon, Human Performance Expert 

Scott Sonnon is an adjunct instructor for the US Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and SME for the US Marshals Academy and US CBP Advanced Training Center, and is the Tactical Fitness Ambassador for 5.11 Tactical, with whom he is co-developing new technologies in tactical fitness. He developed the first federally-POST approved tactical fitness system (TACFIT) and was sent nationwide by the US Department of Homeland Security to teach TACFIT to State and Local Law Enforcement trainers. 

Gray Cook, Co-Founder Functional Movement Systems

Gray Cook, MSPT, OCS, CSCS, RKC is a practicing physical therapist, and orthopedic certified specialist. He is also a certified strength and conditioning specialist and kettlebell instructor. Cook is the founder of Functional Movement Systems which promotes the concept of movement pattern screening and assessment.  

 

Tim Anderson, Co-Founder Original Strength

Tim is a co-founder of the Original Strength System and an Original Strength Master Instructor. He has worked in the health and fitness industry for almost 20 years. In that time, Tim has had the privilege of learning from some of the most gifted leaders in the health and fitness industry.  He has authored several publications, articles, and books including Original Strength, and his latest Original Strength Restoration. Anderson has also starred in and produced Beyond Bodyweight Training with the creator of The Battling Ropes and strength legend, John Brookfield.  

 

Clifton Harski, Head Coach of Fitwall
Official Bio Coming Soon!

 

Bruce Cantrell & Jessica Fain, Classroom Under the Sea Aquanauts

Jessica Fain

Jessica Nicole Fain was born in Knoxville and raised in Lenoir City, Tennessee. As an undergraduate biology student at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Fain participated in numerous ecological studies involving a variety of ecosystems. In 2011, she graduated with honors and earned a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in psychology. 

 

Robert "Bob" Rakowski DC,  Functional Nutrition Expert

Robert A. Rakowski, DC, CCN, DACBN, DIBAK is a Chiropractor, Kinesiologist, Certified Clinical Nutritionist, Certified Biological Terrain Instructor, and the clinic director of the Natural Medicine Center in Houston Texas.  In addition to running a busy practice, Dr. Rakowski has lectured internationally for over 20 years on various topics in Natural and Lifestyle Medicine.

 

Jen Sinkler, Fitness Expert

Jen Sinkler is a longtime fitness writer and personal trainer based in Minneapolis who talks fitness, food, happy life, and general health topics at her site, jensinkler.com, and writes for a variety of national health magazines. She authored Lift Weights Faster 1 and 2, e-libraries that include hundreds of conditioning workouts for fat loss, athleticism, and overall health. 

 

Dave Dellanave, Human Performance Expert

David Dellanave is a lifter, coach, and owner of The Movement Minneapolis in the Twin Cities. He implements biofeedback techniques, teaching his clients, ranging from athletes to general population, to truly understand what their bodies are telling them.    Read More...

 

Mike Fitch,  Founder of Animal Flow, Movement Expert
Official Bio Coming Soon!

 

Nick Heil, Editor of Outside Online & Author of Dark Summit
Official Bio Coming Soon!

Elsbeth Vaino

Elsbeth Vaino is the owner and head trainer at Custom Strength, in Ottawa Canada, where she works primarily with masters-aged athletes wishing to return to sports post-injury.  Prior to becoming a trainer, Elsbeth enjoyed a successful career as an engineer, which significantly influences her approach. She holds a CSCS, is FMS certified, and has a wealth of experience coaching and teaching hockey, ultimate, and skiing.

Frank White, Author of The Overview Effect

Frank White is the author or coauthor of 10 books, ranging in subject matter from space exploration to climate change. His book, The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution, is now in its third edition, and is considered by many to be a seminal work in the field of space exploration and development. A film called “Overview,” based largely on this work, has had more than 6.7 million plays on Vimeo.

Dr. Sarah Jane Pell 

Artist, occupational diver, researcher, and former competitive rock climber, Dr. Sarah Jane Pell's embarks on her first high altitude adventure in the Bending Horizons expedition. SJ passionately explores new ways to redefine our visions of future worlds from sea, to summit, to space through art-making. An experienced remote crew member and art and science collaborator, she is forging her skills in new ways: pioneering a practice to embody and contribute to the culture of exploration. SJ performs expressively and builds novel prototype apparatus to test and communicate insights from the field.  

Satyabrata Dam

Mountaineer, Explorer, Polar Skier, Motivational Speaker, photographer, writer Satya is one of the world’s leading mountaineers and polar explorers with over 35 years of climbing career. He is the only person in the world who has successfully led expeditions to the three poles – Mt Everest, North and South Poles. He has climbed the highest peaks in all the seven continents besides climbing some of the highest mountains in the world. Some of his other major adventures include circumnavigation in a sailboat, walking the length of Africa, silk route, etc. 

 

Dani Almeyda

Dani is a co-owner of the Original Strength System and has worked in the health and fitness industry for the last 10 years.
Throughout her whole life, health and wellness have had a major influence on Dani. Whether it was from her experience as collegiate athlete, as a Director of Campus Recreation, or as a Fitness Professional, her experiences and formal education have inspired her to look at the body we were given and to simplify a growingly complex industry.
 

Ken O'Neill
Official Bio Coming Soon!

Ben Hellwarth

Ben Hellwarth, a veteran journalist, interviewed many surviving SEALAB participants and uncovered lost documents and records to write the first comprehensive account of a lesser-known U.S. venture and several others that led to major breakthroughs in deep diving and the development of "saturation diving." As a staff writer in the 1990s for the Santa Barbara News-Press, Ben won a number of notable awards and got the seed of the idea for his well-received first book, "SEALAB: America’s Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor" (Simon & Schuster, 2012). 

Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Moonwalker
Official Bio Coming Soon!

Dennis & Claudia Chamberland
Official Bio Coming Soon!

Jamie Guined, Exercise Scientist

Jamie Guined currently serves as an Exercise Scientist with the University of Houston supporting research at the NASA Johnson Space Center.  The focus of her research is to better understand howspaceflight produces changes to the muscular, neurovestibular, and cardiovascular systems, and the development of effective countermeasures and countermeasures hardware that will facilitate adaptation and maintenance of crew health during long-duration spaceflight, as well as recoveryand re-adaptation post-flight. 

 

Bud Jeffries, Strongman & Motivational Speaker
Official Bio Coming Soon!

 

Paul McIlroy, Fitness & Conditioning Expert
Official Bio Coming Soon!

 

And many, many more! Speakers will be added as they are confirmed. To receive the most up-to-date information and Summit news, subscribe to our official newsletter below.

 

WORKSHOPS

The inaugural Sea, Earth, and Space Summit will include a mini-workshop on Citizen Science & Educational Outreach to be delivered as two half-day sessions on Friday, May 1st and Saturday, May 2nd; in addition to the NewSpace Researchers Workshop (NSRW), a full-day post-conference workshop co-organized by Astronauts4Hire. Details pertaining to both workshops will be available soon. To receive the most up-to-date information, subscribe to our mailing list.

 

More Background On SES-Summit.com

 

Origins and Purpose

The Sea, Earth, and Space Summit (SES-Summit.com) emerged in 2015 as a pioneering interdisciplinary event uniting professionals from industry, academia, and government to explore one profound question: how do humans perform under extreme environmental conditions — beneath the sea, upon the Earth, and beyond into space?
Hosted in Houston, Texas, a fitting location known for its deep connection to NASA’s space exploration heritage, the summit invited scientists, engineers, astronauts, aquanauts, and human performance specialists to discuss technologies, training systems, and physiological insights that enable human excellence in the harshest environments.

Unlike most conferences that focus narrowly on one sector, the SES Summit positioned itself at the intersection of marine, terrestrial, and aerospace research. Its organizers recognized that the tools developed to sustain human life under the ocean or in microgravity often share common principles: adaptability, resilience, and innovation. The summit’s mission was to create a collaborative platform to exchange knowledge, promote educational outreach, and inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators.

Goals and Educational Tracks

At its core, the SES Summit defined three key objectives:

  1. Foster cross-disciplinary knowledge exchange — bringing together scientists, educators, and technologists who rarely intersect professionally.

  2. Promote public and educational outreach — extending scientific conversations beyond research communities through citizen-science initiatives and public learning.

  3. Advance the field of human performance — by sharing research on physiology, psychology, and technology that supports human survival and productivity in challenging settings.

The conference was organized into three educational tracks reflecting its thematic pillars: the Sea, representing marine and subaquatic exploration; the Earth, focusing on terrestrial endurance, sports, and environmental adaptation; and Space, delving into astronautics, planetary science, and the biomechanics of extraterrestrial survival.

Location and Timing

The inaugural event took place from May 1–3, 2015, in Houston, Texas, a city globally recognized as the home of the NASA Johnson Space Center. The choice of Houston was strategic — not only does it house one of the world’s most sophisticated centers for human spaceflight research, but it also lies close to coastal and oceanographic institutions around the Gulf of Mexico.
This geographical positioning allowed participants to connect aerospace advancements with oceanic and Earth-based analogs — a symbolic triangle of exploration that mirrored the summit’s name.

Ownership and Organization

While SES-Summit.com functioned as the official website, its organization involved collaboration among various entities in the human performance and aerospace research sectors. Key contributors included NASA-affiliated researchers, University of Houston faculty, and independent organizations like Astronauts4Hire and Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere).
The NewSpace Researchers Workshop, co-organized by Astronauts4Hire, represented a growing movement toward commercial and citizen participation in space science — a theme that would define the 2010s “NewSpace” era.

Featured Keynote Speakers

The SES Summit’s strength lay in its roster of speakers — a rare mix of astronauts, scientists, elite fitness experts, explorers, and thought leaders. The diversity of its presenters reflected the summit’s mission to merge art, science, and physical performance under one intellectual roof.

Dr. Story Musgrave — NASA Astronaut and Visionary

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Story Musgrave, one of NASA’s most accomplished astronauts. With a career spanning over 30 years and six spaceflights, Musgrave’s legacy includes performing the first shuttle spacewalk aboard Challenger, and leading the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. His message encapsulated the summit’s spirit — combining human curiosity with engineering mastery to expand the boundaries of possibility.

Dr. Andrew Walshe — Red Bull Director of High Performance

A second highlight was Dr. Andy Walshe, global head of Red Bull High Performance, whose work demystifies talent through scientific frameworks. Walshe’s presentation bridged elite athleticism and exploration, emphasizing how psychological conditioning and biomechanical optimization shape human limits — whether on Earth or in orbit.

Other Notable Figures

  • Dallas Hartwig, co-founder of Whole30 and It Starts With Food, introduced nutritional science as an essential factor in sustaining performance.

  • Dr. Charlie Weingroff, Gray Cook, and Scott Sonnon represented the strength and conditioning community, showing how movement systems and tactical fitness translate to astronauts and divers alike.

  • Dr. Erik Seedhouse, Norwegian-Canadian astronaut and author, discussed the evolving landscape of suborbital flight training and human readiness for commercial space travel.

  • Brian Shiro, from Hawai‘i Space Exploration Analog Simulation (HI-SEAS), highlighted how Earth analogs prepare humans for life on Mars.

  • Dr. Jason Reimuller, CEO of Integrated Spaceflight Services and founder of Project PoSSUM, detailed atmospheric research conducted from reusable suborbital vehicles.

  • Dr. Sarah Jane Pell, artist and occupational diver, presented on blending performance art with space and sea exploration — showing how creativity informs science.

  • Frank White, author of The Overview Effect, explored how seeing Earth from space transforms human consciousness and environmental ethics.

These speakers, among dozens of others — from Iron Tamer Dave Whitley to Bud Jeffries and Jessica Fain — underscored the summit’s multidimensionality. Each voice contributed a fragment of the broader human story: pushing physical, cognitive, and emotional thresholds across environments.

Workshops and Experiential Learning

The SES Summit went beyond lectures. It incorporated 50+ sessions, five expert panels, two supplementary workshops, and multiple hands-on learning experiences.

Two standout workshops defined the program:

  1. Citizen Science & Educational Outreach — a two-part series designed to teach educators and enthusiasts how to contribute to research initiatives through observation, open data, and local environmental monitoring.

  2. NewSpace Researchers Workshop (NSRW) — a full-day session hosted in collaboration with Astronauts4Hire, focused on private-sector space research, commercial astronaut training, and emerging aerospace entrepreneurship.

This focus on active participation marked the SES Summit as an experiential education model, not merely an academic conference.

Continuing Education and Professional Development

Recognizing the importance of accredited learning, organizers pursued partnerships with professional boards to grant continuing education credits for medical, fitness, and technical professionals. This initiative reflected the summit’s dual commitment to rigor and accessibility — ensuring attendees could earn formal recognition while exploring interdisciplinary frontiers.

The event thus appealed to an unusually broad audience: NASA scientists, military trainers, rehabilitation specialists, athletes, educators, and citizen scientists alike. It was this inclusiveness — the notion that all could contribute to understanding human performance — that gave SES its enduring influence.

Cultural and Scientific Significance

Though the Sea, Earth, and Space Summit occurred only once under that banner, its impact echoed across several scientific and cultural domains.

  • In aerospace, it helped popularize commercial astronaut training initiatives that would later expand through organizations such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo programs.

  • In marine exploration, speakers like Ben Hellwarth, author of SEALAB, reignited public interest in saturation diving and undersea habitation — precursors to modern aquanautics.

  • In human performance, experts like Tim Anderson and Clifton Harski bridged traditional fitness with neurophysiological training concepts, anticipating the now-mainstream field of “biohacking.”

The summit’s cross-pollination of disciplines anticipated modern trends in integrated science — where athletic training borrows from aerospace medicine, and marine engineering informs astronautical design.

Public Reception and Legacy

Participants described the inaugural SES Summit as “one of the most content-rich professional conferences of 2015.” It was praised for its inclusivity, innovative speaker mix, and forward-looking tone.
The Houston press, local fitness publications, and several blogs covering NewSpace initiatives highlighted the event’s emphasis on citizen involvement and real-world applications of research.

While SES-Summit.com eventually went offline as the event concluded, the ideas it introduced continued through partner organizations. Project PoSSUM, for instance, grew into an international research and training network, conducting microgravity flight experiments and noctilucent cloud studies. Similarly, Red Bull High Performance integrated lessons from extreme environmental physiology into elite athlete training.

In the years following, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA adopted many of the same interdisciplinary approaches — integrating marine and polar analogs into astronaut training. In this sense, the SES Summit prefigured global efforts to unite environmental science with human spaceflight education.

Audience and Community

The conference attracted a unique demographic. Attendees included:

  • Scientists and researchers from NASA, the University of Houston, and private aerospace startups.

  • Health professionals and trainers from sports medicine, tactical fitness, and rehabilitation fields.

  • Explorers and expedition leaders seeking insights into adaptation and safety in polar, desert, and underwater expeditions.

  • Educators and citizen scientists interested in experiential learning and student engagement in real science.

  • Writers, artists, and documentarians exploring the aesthetic dimensions of exploration — reinforcing that science and creativity are interdependent.

Through social media and its newsletter, SES-Summit.com cultivated a small but dedicated online following. The archived pages show engagement from educators and exploration enthusiasts who viewed the event as a model for how conferences could integrate storytelling, performance, and research.

Media and Press Coverage

Contemporary press mentions appeared across niche science and exploration outlets, especially in 2015 NewSpace community blogs, fitness trade publications, and regional Houston news.
Coverage often emphasized keynote highlights, NASA collaborations, and human-performance demonstrations. The presence of recognizable figures like Dr. Story Musgrave and Frank White drew both mainstream and academic interest.

Although it did not become an annual series, the summit’s memory persists in archived web materials, academic citations, and alumni discussions. It is remembered as a trailblazer event — one that demonstrated the power of cross-domain collaboration before “interdisciplinary” became a buzzword.

Reflections on Human Performance and Exploration

The SES Summit’s vision remains strikingly contemporary. In a world grappling with climate change, environmental extremes, and commercial spaceflight expansion, the themes first articulated in 2015 have gained new urgency.
Its underlying philosophy — that exploration of space, stewardship of Earth, and preservation of the oceans are intertwined — resonates with today’s sustainability discourse.

By bringing astronauts and aquanauts into the same conversation, SES challenged conventional silos. It recognized that a diver in the abyss and an astronaut in orbit share a common mission: to extend the boundaries of human experience while safeguarding life’s delicate equilibrium.

 

The Sea, Earth, and Space Summit (SES-Summit.com) was more than a 2015 conference — it was a statement about the future of exploration.
In an era defined by specialization, it stood as a beacon of integration, reminding scientists, artists, and athletes alike that every frontier — oceanic, terrestrial, or cosmic — is part of one continuous journey of human discovery.

Its website served as both a promotional and educational platform, offering detailed speaker bios, program outlines, and registration portals. Though archived today, SES-Summit.com remains an enduring digital artifact of how humanity sought to connect the dots between its oldest and newest frontiers.

The summit’s legacy lies not in repetition but in influence — seen wherever scientists, performers, and explorers collaborate to advance the art and science of being human under pressure.

 

SES-Summit.com