NASA mission commander said

Faulty spacewalks, limited communications, vertical vegetable gardens… Kelly Haston, commander of NASA’s first and unprecedented mission, is proud to have spent 378 days in a Mars habitat in Texas, helping to prepare for future trips to the Red Planet.

The experiment, which ended in early July, was designed to better understand how the isolation affects the performance and health of the crew. A round trip to Mars would take more than two years.

Data from the mission is still being evaluated, but after a stopover with three other participants, Kelly Haston said it would be interesting to consider a trip to Mars — for real this time — “It’s even harder after this experience.”.

What does he miss most? “People. Without a doubt””, the fifty-year-old replied to AFP. “I could have stayed in this habitat for another year and survived with all the other restrictions, but the people I love… you miss the people you love so much.”

All communications with the outside world are delayed the same amount of time as between Earth and Mars, which is at most twenty minutes (about forty round trips). Very little video can be received or sent, and it is very heavy.

Unmanageable distance “When your friend or family member is facing a big challenge””, says the biologist. “You can’t be there for them in real time.”

Sandbox

The only direct human contact: his three teammates, who are both colleagues and roommates.

“Until the end, we all ate together”she says. “We spend a lot of time together almost every day, not just at work.”

She believes the key is that everyone be careful not to have too much of an impact on others if morale is low.

Their 160 square meter house has common areas, bedrooms, and even a small vegetable garden. The habitat, named Mars Dune Alpha, was installed in Houston and was 3D printed.

A fake outdoor space, not open air, but recreating a Martian environment with red sand, was used to simulate a spacewalk.

cerium “Sandbox”As his nickname suggests, he is behind the airlock door. Participants carry out tasks in teams and combinations under the guidance of another person inside.

“Very realistic”

“Some days we really want to go outside, I’m not gonna lie to you”recognize Canadians who now live in California. But “To my own surprise, I didn’t really feel the lack of outdoor activity until very late in the mission.”

“We’re bored too””, admits Kelly Haston, who does a lot of embroidery. But “For long-distance space travel like to Mars, this could be quite realistic.”

The long duration of the experiment is key to recreating the most realistic conditions. Other long-duration missions have been conducted in the past, such as in Hawaii (Hi-SEAS), but NASA was not directly responsible for them at the time.

Of course, these simulations cannot answer “All questions”said Kelly Haston. “But I think there are things we can do to help.”.

Every food the astronaut apprentices ate was listed, and saliva, blood, and urine samples were collected, as well as sleeping habits and physical and cognitive performance.

“Food is integral to every aspect of human health and performance”stressed Grace Douglas, NASA’s mission manager. In an agency podcast, she explained that for a trip to Mars, every gram of cargo will be counted, which is why it is crucial to distinguish between what is necessary and what is superfluous.

That question—how much food to pack?—is one of the main missions the CHAPEA program must respond to, and Kelly Haston’s mission is the first of three, according to her.

Few details have filtered out about the precise missions accomplished or the obstacles NASA envisions to test the astronauts, as most missions will have to be repeated in order to collect the most reliable data possible. A second mission is scheduled for 2025.