NASA Astronauts Living Underwater

How does living and working underwater for nine days help NASA explore space?

A team of four astronauts are living 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean inside an underwater habitat.

The crew members of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 18 project, which began Monday, July 21, will test technologies and training techniques for use aboard the International Space Station and long-duration exploration missions. Mission objectives will focus on behavioral health and performance, human health issues, and habitability.

Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will command the NEEMO 18 mission aboard the Aquarius laboratory. He will be joined by NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps and Mark Vande Hei and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

The NEEMO crew, along with two professional habitat technicians, will conduct this mission in Florida International University’s undersea research habitat Aquarius Reef Base, located about 6  miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.