NASA Simulated Mars Habitat Crew Emerges After One Year

The crew of a NASA mission to Mars emerged from their spacecraft after a year-long journey that never left Earth.

The four volunteer crew members spent more than 12 months inside NASA’s first simulated Mars environment at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, exiting the artificial alien environment on Saturday around 5 p.m.

Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones entered the 3D-printed habitat on June 25, 2023, as the space agency’s first rocket crew. Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog project.

Haston, the mission commander, began with a simple “Hello.”

“It’s actually wonderful to be able to say ‘hello’ to all of you,” she said.

Jones, a doctor and mission medical officer, said the 378 days of confinement “passed quickly.”

The quartet lived and worked in the 1,579-square-meter (17,000-square-foot) space to simulate a mission to the Red Planet, the fourth from the Sun and a frequent focus of discussion among scientists and science fiction fans about a possible trip. humans beyond our moon.

The first CHAPEA crew focused on establishing possible conditions for future operations on Mars through simulated spacewalks, dubbed “Marswalks,” as well as growing and harvesting vegetables to supplement their provisions and maintain the habitat and equipment. .

They also overcame challenges that a real Mars crew would face, including limited resources, isolation and communication delays of up to 22 minutes with their home planet on the other side of the habitat’s walls, NASA said.

Two additional CHAPEA missions are planned, and crews will continue to perform spacewalk simulations and collect data on factors related to health and physical and behavioral performance, NASA said.

Steve Koerner, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, said most of the first crew’s experiments focused on nutrition and how it affected their performance. The work was “crucial science as we prepare to send people to the red planet,” he said.

“They were separated from their families, put on a carefully prescribed eating plan and subjected to a lot of observation,” Koerner said.

“Mars is our goal,” he said, calling the project an important step in America’s intention to be a leader in the global space exploration effort.

Emerging after a knock on the habitat’s door by Kjell Lindgren, an astronaut and deputy director of flight operations, the four volunteers spoke of the gratitude they felt for each other and for those who waited patiently outside, as well as lessons learned. about a manned future. mission to Mars and life on Earth.

Brockwell, the crew’s flight engineer, said the mission showed him the importance of living sustainably for the benefit of everyone on Earth.

“I’m so grateful to have had this incredible opportunity to live for a year in the spirit of planetary adventure toward an exciting future, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to live the idea that we shouldn’t use resources faster than they can. be replenished and produce waste no faster than they can be turned into resources,” Brockwell said.

“We cannot live, dream, create or explore in any meaningful period of time if we do not live these principles, but if we do, we can achieve and sustain incredible and inspiring things, like exploring other worlds,” he said.

Science officer Anca Selariu said she has often been asked why there is a fixation on Mars.

“Why go to Mars? Because it is possible,” she said. “Because space can unite and bring out the best in us. Because it is a decisive step that ‘Earthlings’ will take to light the way for the centuries to come.”