The crew of a NASA mission to Mars emerged from their craft after a yearlong voyage that never left Earth.
The four volunteer crew members spent more than 12 months inside NASA’s first simulated Mars environment at Johnson Space Center in Houston, coming out of the artificial alien environment 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 maiden crew of the space agency’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog project.
Haston, the mission commander, began with a simple, “Hello.”
“It’s actually just so wonderful to be able to say ‘hello’ to you all,” she said.
Jones, a physician and the mission medical officer, said their 378 days in confinement “went by quickly.”
Maaaaaakin a filter MAAAAAKIN A FILTER
Pretty cool concept from one of the participants:
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 very grateful to have had this incredible opportunity to live for a year within the spirit of planetary adventure towards an exciting future, and I’m grateful for the chance to live the idea that we must utilise resources no faster than they can be replenished and produce waste no faster than they can be processed back into resources,” Brockwell said.
I realize they simulated the whole trip from beginning to end, but it’s still funny to read the words ‘flight engineer’ when they didn’t actually go anywhere.
