WORLDTECHSecond NASA Mars simulation crew emerges after 378 days in habitat
Full credit
File:NASA Science Calendar 2021.pdf / NASA This image was created with Adobe InDesign . / https://eospso.nasa.gov/https%3A/eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications/2021-nasa-science-calendar ( direct link ) / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA_Science_Calendar_2021.pdfSource pageA second group of volunteers is leaving NASA's simulated Mars habitat today after 378 days, according to Engadget. The four crew members spent the year inside a mock Mars environment as part of the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog mission.
Crew members and their stay
Ross Elder, Matthew Montgomery, Ellen Ellis and James Spicer moved into the habitat on October 19, 2025, as the mission 2 crew of CHAPEA. For more than a year they lived in a 3D-printed facility of 1,700 square feet on NASA Johnson grounds in Houston, Texas, running Mars mission operations from Earth.
Inside the habitat the crew carried out simulated spacewalks, maintenance work and plant growing. Anyone leaving the habitat has to pass through an airlock.
Programme background and exit
NASA began seeking volunteers for the CHAPEA missions in 2023, and the first crew entered the habitat that June. The exit of the second crew concludes this second year-long mission, and NASA will broadcast it live.
Open questions
- What findings from the crew's year in the habitat will NASA publish?