Crew inside NASA's Mars habitat simulator to exit after more than a year - UPI.com

July 2 (UPI) -- The first volunteer crew, to live for more than a year inside NASA's Mars habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, will exit the simulated Red Planet ground mission on Saturday.

Crew members Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones will be greeted with a short welcome ceremony at about 5 p.m. EDT, which can be viewed on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app and the space agency's website, when they walk out of Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog's, or CHAPEA's, 3D printed habitat after 378 days.

CHAPEA's Mars Dune Alpha is an isolated 3D-printed 1,700 square-foot habitat that simulates a realistic Mars environment. The layout of the habitat provides for separate areas to live and work.

The crew entered CHAPEA on June 25, 2023, and enacted Mars mission operations, including virtual reality "Mars-walks" while growing and harvesting vegetables to supplement their shelf food. They also spent their time maintaining equipment while being tested with stressors, including isolation and communication delays with Earth.

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