Mars guinea pigs ‘re-enter’ real life

Five astronauts took the shortcut home from a Mars mission — by opening the door on their Mauna Loa habitat Friday, stepping outside and feeling the sun on their faces for the first time in four months.

The crew members of the Hawai‘i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation mission received hugs and handshakes from the first "outside" people they’ve seen since entering the habitat March 28.

"I haven’t seen a tree, smelled the rain, heard a bird, or felt wind on my skin in four months," mission commander Casey Stedman said on Instagram.

HI-SEAS 2 (HI-SEAS 1 last year investigated Mars food preparation, food monotony and smelling acuity) was designed to study the psychological effects of crew isolation.

The team wore biometric devices that measured vital signs; cameras recorded crew meetings and social time; and every day the participants answered questions about mood, perceptions and cognitive abilities.

"Sometimes it was like when you’re on a family vacation as a kid and you’re trapped in the back seat with your brothers and sisters." said Stedman, an Air Force Reserve officer.

It was serious stuff — mostly.

"One of the things I think we hope to accomplish from this is (to) build a better understanding of what it takes, particularly with the human factor, for missions to other planets," Stedman said in a Google Hangout video feed just before the mission ended. "The lessons from this can be applied to both lunar and Mars missions."

HI-SEAS is overseen by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA.

The 13,570-cubic-foot geodesic dome habitat is perched at 8,200 feet on the northern slope of Hawaii island’s Mauna Loa where there is little vegetation and a lot of red planet-like landscape.

The ground floor has 993 square feet of kitchen, dining, bathroom, lab, exercise and common space, while the second floor loft has 424 square feet, six staterooms and a half bath. A workshop converted from a 20-foot shipping container is attached to the habitat.

The crew members ate freeze-dried food and went outside only in spacesuits.

Each participant also had a research project that fell in the areas of growing plants, trash-to-energy conversion and the utility of 3-D printed tools.

"Most of the crew really enjoyed seeing the plants grow, and each time we had the fruit coming, it was, "Oh my God, there’s a tomato, there are flowers. Oh my God, there’s a pea growing!’" said crew member Lucie Poulet.

A new eight-month mission is scheduled for October, and a yearlong habitat trial will begin in 2015.

Stedman and crew member Ross Lockwood celebrated the near end of their Mars mission by having an on-camera "Star Wars" light­saber duel using tubular foam pool floats.