{"id":368474,"date":"2026-03-27T18:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/368474\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T18:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:29:11","slug":"mackenzie-calles-above-and-beyond-photography-goes-inside-a-mars-simulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/368474\/","title":{"rendered":"Mackenzie Calle\u2019s above and beyond photography goes inside a Mars simulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least she wasn\u2019t on the The Hydronaut<\/a>, the underwater mission designed to imitate long-duration spaceflight, Calle describes. \u201cNinety square feet. Three people. No windows,\u201d she winces. \u201cNo, no, no.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At least at MDRS, Calle could move about the two-story cylinder that served as the crew\u2019s living space. She could roam the habitat\u2019s tunnels and find herself in its greenhouse (GreenHab), the solar observatory or the engineering bay \u2014 the Repair and Assembly Module (RAM). She could exit the environment via the mock airlocks for an extravehicular activity (EVA), or tend to the microgreens she was growing, or retreat for some solace in the tiny citadel above the living quarters. Still, \u201cIt was harder than I thought it was going to be,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n

Why would anyone, especially a non-astronaut, do this?<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to photograph space so space feels possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

From observer to participant<\/p>\n

Calle\u2019s storytelling endeavor, supported by the National Geographic Society<\/a>, is a manifestation of years of her space interest and inspiration by space exploration icon Sally Ride<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at a new and incredibly exciting era in space exploration,\u201d Calle observes, pointing to missions like NASA\u2019s Artemis II, set for launch in March, which will have astronauts orbit the Moon. It will be the closest humans have been to the lunar surface since Apollo, until NASA\u2019s Artemis III<\/a> which aims to put humans back on the Moon<\/a> in 203027. \u201cHow can we make people feel connected to it?\u201d she wonders, acknowledging that space is a paradox \u2014 a universal human experience, and yet, \u201chostile and alien.\u201d Bridging the gap is at the core of her photographic work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always come back to the quote by Dr. Sally Ride. She said, \u2018You can\u2019t be what you can\u2019t see.\u2019 So how can we make a space that\u2019s alien personal, and who\u2019s actually going to go?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least she wasn\u2019t on the The Hydronaut, the underwater mission designed to imitate long-duration spaceflight, Calle describes.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[165748,61,60,165747,2704,165749,82,247,165750],"class_list":["post-368474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-explorers","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mackenzie-calle","tag-mars","tag-national-geographic-explorers","tag-science","tag-space","tag-worlds-biggest-analog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}