Four NASA volunteers return to the outside world after more than a year in a 3D-printed Mars base in Houston
The second crew of the CHAPEA programme lived in isolation for 378 days, with delayed communications and limited resources, to help prepare future missions to the Moon and Mars.
Ross Elder, Matthew Montgomery, Ellen Ellis and James Spicer left the simulated Mars base on the grounds of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday after 378 days. They had entered it on 19 October 2025 as the second crew of CHAPEA, short for Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, NASA says. The space agency broadcast the moment the four came out through an airlock. VRT NWS and Engadget also reported on the end of the mission.
The base is a 3D-printed dwelling of about 160 square metres. For a year the crew carried out tasks as they would on Mars: simulated spacewalks, base maintenance, exercise and growing plants. In doing so they faced the same stress factors as real astronauts, such as isolation, delayed communication with Earth and limited supplies, Engadget writes.
According to NASA, the data should help counter health risks for astronauts on future Artemis missions and a base on the Moon. Among other things, it will be used to design food systems, organise crew time efficiently, make better use of Deep Space Network bandwidth and help doctors and psychologists with the medical and mental support of crews. The first CHAPEA crew entered the base in June 2023. NASA is now accepting applications for a successor mission, which will start no earlier than August 2027.