NASA's four-member CHAPEA crew completes 365 days inside a 3D-printed Mars habitat at Houston

19 October 2026

The four crew members of NASA's CHAPEA Mission 2, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, completed 365 days inside a simulated Mars habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The crew entered the 1,700-square-foot three-dimensionally printed habitat on 19 October 2025 and are to exit on Saturday 31 October, completing a planned 378 days. The members are mission commander Ross Elder, medical officer Ellen Ellis, science officer Matthew Montgomery and flight engineer James Spicer. During the mission their communications were delayed by up to 45 minutes each way to reproduce the lag between Earth and Mars. Post-mission evaluations and debriefs are to run for two weeks after they come out.