Four members of a simulated Mars mission came out of isolation on Saturday after 378 days, Reuters reported. They had lived inside a habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The mission is meant to help prepare for a possible future human trip to Mars.
The project is called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHAPEA. The crew entered the 1,700-square-foot (158-square-meter) 3D-printed habitat on October 19, 2025. Inside, they grew crops in simulated Martian soil. They also coped with communication delays like those real astronauts would face between planets.
Mission commander Ross Elder led the crew. Ellen Ellis served as medical officer, Matthew Montgomery as science officer and James Spicer as flight engineer. Ellis described the crew as analog astronauts who had lived in captivity of their own free will. She said the US has "a narrowing window of opportunity" to stay ahead in space. She also mentioned the Trump administration's plans for a space-related service academy and a lunar base.
Elder said the risks of going to Mars are great. He added that putting humans on Mars is "not only achievable, but rather inevitable."
Johnson Space Center director Vanessa Wyche greeted the crew as they came out. She said they had lived with limited resources, maintained their habitat and carried out simulated Mars operations. Wyche said the message delays demand patience, careful planning and independence. She said these qualities will be essential for astronauts traveling millions of miles from home.
This was NASA's second CHAPEA mission. An earlier four-person crew spent 378 days in isolation at the same center across 2023 and 2024. NASA wants a human mission to Mars as early as the 2030s. Before that, it plans to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.
The crew will now spend two weeks in evaluations and debriefings with NASA scientists. NASA said the goal is to learn how astronauts adapt to daily life on long missions beyond Earth. It also wants to know how to keep them healthy, productive and connected.