Four volunteer crew members of NASA's CHAPEA mission were welcomed back by their families on Saturday after 378 days in a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat inside a hangar at the Johnson Space Center. The crew, which included commander Ross Elder, medical officer Ellen Ellis, science officer Matthew Montgomery and flight engineer James Spicer, had lived there since Oct. 19, 2025. Friends and family held a celebration for them.
Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center, said the crew lived with limited resources, maintained their habitat, grew crops and carried out simulated Mars operations. NASA said the Earth-based mission will provide data to inform human exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond. Elder said the risks for Mars are great but that sending humans there is achievable.
Wyche said the simulated communication delays ranged from 26 to 44 minutes each way, which meant the crew's only contact with family and friends was by email. Suzanne Bell, a co-investigator on CHAPEA, said that at one point the crew went two weeks without contact with the outside world, simulating a possible blackout.