On September 17, after eight months of isolation in a geodesic dome on the slopes of Mauna Loa, six crew members exited their habitat. They felt the sun and wind on their faces and ate fresh tropical papaya, pineapple and bananas with friends and family.
It’s been a memorable experience for the Mission V crew for a variety of reasons, including having to live with a communications delay, eating mostly shelf-stable foods and having to wear “space suits” outside of the habitat.
The UH 惭ā苍辞补 research project, funded by NASA, will help with the selection of crews for future long-duration space missions, such as a mission to Mars. UH has been operating the long-duration planetary surface simulations in the Mars-like setting to investigate crew composition and cohesion since 2012.
Read more UH News stories about HI-SEAS missions.
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