Four people have spent the past 378 days pretending they’re on Mars inside a 1,700-square-foot habitat in Houston. Today, they finally get to walk outside.
NASA’s four CHAPEA Mission 2 volunteers are scheduled to exit their simulated Mars habitat Saturday at Johnson Space Center after more than a year of isolation.
Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, James Spicer and Matthew Montgomery entered the habitat Oct. 19, 2025, for NASA’s second yearlong Mars simulation. They have lived and worked inside the 3D-printed facility while dealing with conditions designed to mimic what astronauts could face on a real Mars mission.
That meant simulated spacewalks, growing plants, exercising, maintaining the habitat and dealing with limited resources, isolation, equipment failures and communication delays. NASA designed the mission to collect data on how people handle the physical and psychological demands of living in deep space…