Out of This World Experience

I was lucky enough to spend 48-hrs in the Mars habitat at Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii late last month. Our 6-person team's mission was to guarantee that the research habitat is in good working condition for the "real" scientists– a group of 6 randomly chosen researchers, embarking on their 4-month seclusion as part of the Mars simulation project through the hi-seas program. To simulate a Mars colony, my team and I ate and prepared foods suitable for space travel (canned/dried foods) and donned spacesuits, whenever we stepped out of the habitat. During one of our long spacewalks, my ventilator died which made every step from there on felt like a lightyear. As you can see from this photo, space walks are no cake walks. Our fearless Commander quickly assumed the horizontal position shortly after completing our lava-tubes mission.