NASA chooses 4 crew members for next Mars mission simulation

April 15 (UPI) -- NASA on Monday revealed its next four-person crew to participate in a simulated mission to Mars performed within a habitat at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi and Piyumi Wijesekara will comprise the second of four groups of volunteers to participate in simulated, 45-day journeys to Mars this year at the Human Exploration Research Analog facility, NASA announced.

The first group completed its HERA mission on March 18, while two other missions will follow this year. The final HERA crew of 2024 is scheduled to wrap up their stay on Dec. 20.

The second crew will begin their mission on May 10 and exit the facility on June 24. In between, they will live and work like astronauts on a deep space mission, carrying out scientific research and operational tasks while on the faux "Red Planet."

One highlight of their stay will be a "walk" on the Mars surface using virtual reality. To make the experience more realistic, the crew also will be subjected to increasingly lengthy communication delays with mission control as they simulate traveling farther from Earth and closer to Mars.

Lee is an associate professor-in-residence at the University of Connecticut's School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, teaching thermal fluids, manufacturing, and sports engineering courses.

Navarro is a space operations officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with more than a decade of prior enlisted service in the Air National Guard, including a deployment in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel to help provide secure communication capabilities in the Middle East.

Al Romaithi is a United Arab Emirates national and a commercial pilot with more than 16 years of experience commanding Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft as a captain. He is participating in the mission through a partnership between NASA and the UAE's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

Wijesekara, meanwhile, is a postdoctoral research scientist in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center in California, researching the effects of spaceflight stressors, including ionizing radiation and lunar dust on the human respiratory system.

HERA is a unique 650-square-foot habitat split among two floors and a loft, designed to serve as an analog for isolation, confinement and remote conditions in exploration scenarios.