apply<\/a> to live inside a deep space simulator. If selected, your meals and sleeping quarters are covered. You even get paid.<\/p>\nOnce inside, it’s only you and three others for a year. NASA is looking for its next group to live inside a moon and Mars simulator at Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n
It’s not new. NASA has had two missions where crew members lived inside the simulator, including one right now.<\/p>\n
However, this time it’s different because they’ve added a 650-square-foot vehicle simulator.<\/p>\n
“I don’t like confined places,” Houston resident Jordan Whitehead said. “That would not be good for me probably. I’d probably go stir crazy and not be the right person.”<\/p>\n
Despite the close quarters, NASA scientists said there’s been a lot of interest.<\/p>\n
“We have gotten a ton of applicants,” NASA deputy element scientist Sarah Whiting said. “Everybody wants to go to space. Everybody wants to be a pioneer. This is the first way to go to another planet: to simulate it here on Earth.”<\/p>\n
Once inside, you’d do experiments, test equipment, and work with Mission Control. You’d have to do more than space stuff.<\/p>\n
There’s no one coming to cook your meals, cut your hair, or fix broken parts.<\/p>\n
“They handle their own maintenance issues,” Whiting explained. “When something breaks, you can’t just call the plumber.”<\/p>\n
That’s not the only hardship. Communication in deep space, scientists say, isn’t great.<\/p>\n
Because of this, not only would you not see your family in person for a year, but there are no video calls, or many videos either. You would, though, they say, play a crucial role as NASA gets ready to return to the moon and look beyond.<\/p>\n
“I think there are absolutely people who would do it,” Whitehead said. “It’s space travel. How cool would that be?”<\/p>\n
NASA officials said there’s still time to apply. They are looking for a certain candidate.<\/p>\n
Ideally, they say it would be someone similar to an astronaut, who may have a military or STEM background. NASA hopes to send those four people into the simulator as soon as next August.<\/p>\n
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