Dr. Erik Seedhouse is an assistant professor in space operations and a research scientist specializing in space life sciences and physiology, the subject in which he obtained his Ph.D. while working for the European Space Agency between 1996 and 1998. In 2009, he was one of the final candidates for selection as an astronaut in the Canadian Space Agency’s Astronaut Recruitment Campaign. He has completed all the training required by a suborbital astronaut and hopes to fly on Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle in the near future. Between 2008-13 he was Director of Canada's Manned Centrifuge Training Program and also Director of the Canadian Forces Hypobaric Chamber Operations. He works as an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach teaching spaceflight operations and human factors in aviation. He also works as a manned spaceflight consultant, triathlon coach, author, public speaker and occasional consultant to Hollywood (for example, he consulted on Approaching the Unknown, featuring Mark Strong). One of his best-selling books is "To Mars and Beyond, Fast!", coauthored by record-breaking astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz.