Four volunteer crew members who spent more than 12 months inside NASA’s first simulated Mars environment at Johnson Space Center in Houston have emerged from the artificial alien enviroment. Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones entered the 3D-printed habitat on June 25, 2023, and emerged around 5 p.m. Saturday. The maiden crew of the space agency’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog project spent 378 days inside the space of 17,000 square feet to simulate a mission to the red planet. The crew in the first of three planned CHAPEA missions focused on establishing possible conditions for future Mars operations through simulated spacewalks, as well as growing and harvesting vegetables to supplement their provisions and maintaining the habitat.
