NASA's second year-long Mars simulation mission ends today

The second crew that spent a year inside NASA’s simulated Mars habitat is emerging today, and the agency will stream it live. NASA’s second year-long Mars simulation mission ends today. Tomorrow Space NASA’s second year-long Mars simulation mission ends today The agency will livestream the event starting at 3PM Eastern time.

NASA will stream the event live on YouTube and on its social media accounts, starting today at 3PM Eastern time. Ross Elder, Matthew Montgomery, Ellen Ellis and James Spicer entered the habitat on October 19, 2025, as part of the CHAPEA mission 2 crew. They lived inside a 3D-printed 1,700-square-foot facility on NASA Johnson grounds in Houston, Texas for over a year, conducting Mars mission operations right here on Earth.

They did simulated spacewalks, performed habitat maintenance and grew plants. The crew even has to go through an airlock to leave the habitat. To the isolation, the participants were subjected to other stressors future spacefarers to Mars and the moon would face, like communication delays and resource limitations.

NASA started looking for volunteers for the CHAPEA missions in 2023, and the first crew entered the habitat in June that year.