NEEMO

NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, is a NASA analog mission that sends groups of astronauts, engineers and scientists to live in the Aquarius underwater laboratory, the world's only undersea research station, for up to three weeks at a time in preparation for future space exploration.

Aquarius is an underwater habitat off Key Largo, Florida, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is deployed on the ocean floor next to deep coral reefs below the surface.

NASA has used it since 2001 for a series of space exploration simulation missions, usually lasting 7 to 14 days, with space research mainly conducted by international astronauts. The mission had cost about 500 million U.S. dollars. The crew members are called aquanauts (as they live underwater at depth pressure for a period equal to or greater than 24 continuous hours without returning to the surface), and they perform EVAs in the underwater environment. A technique known as saturation diving allows the aquanauts to live and work underwater for days or weeks at a time. After twenty four hours underwater at any depth, the human body becomes saturated with dissolved gas. With saturation diving, divers can accurately predict exactly how much time they need to decompress before returning to the surface. This information limits the risk of decompression sickness. By living in the Aquarius habitat and working at the same depth on the ocean floor, NEEMO crews are able to remain underwater for the duration of their mission.

For NASA, the Aquarius habitat and its surroundings provide a convincing analog for space exploration. Much like space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. NEEMO crew members experience some of the same challenges there that they would on a distant asteroid, planet (i.e. Mars) or Moon. During NEEMO missions, the aquanauts are able to simulate living on a spacecraft and test spacewalk techniques for future space missions. Working in space and underwater environments requires extensive planning and sophisticated equipment. The underwater condition has the additional benefit of allowing NASA to "weight" the aquanauts to simulate different gravity environments.

Until 2012, Aquarius was owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) at the University of North Carolina–Wilmington as a marine biology study base.

Since 2013, Aquarius is owned by Florida International University (FIU). As part of the FIU Marine Education and Research Initiative, the Medina Aquarius Program is dedicated to the study and preservation of marine ecosystems worldwide and is enhancing the scope and impact of FIU on research, educational outreach, technology development, and professional training. At the heart of the program is the Aquarius Reef Base.

Missions

NEEMO 1: October 21–27, 2001

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Bill Todd , Commander Michael L. Gernhardt Michael López-Alegría Dafydd Williams, CSA

NURC Support Crew: Mark Hulsbeck Ryan Snow

NEEMO 2: May 13–20, 2002 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Michael Fincke , Commander Daniel M. Tani Sunita Williams Marc Reagan

NURC Support Crew: Thor Dunmire Ryan Snow

NEEMO 3: July 15–21, 2002 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Jeffrey Williams , Commander Gregory Chamitoff John D. Olivas Jonathan Dory

NURC Support Crew: Byron Croker Michael Smith

NEEMO 4: September 23–27, 2002 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Scott Kelly , Commander Paul Hill Rex Walheim Jessica Meir

NURC Support Crew: James Talacek Ryan Snow

NEEMO 5: June 16–29, 2003 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Peggy Whitson , Commander Clayton Anderson Garrett Reisman Emma Hwang

NURC Support Crew: James Talacek Ryan Snow

NEEMO 6: July 12–21, 2004 NASA Aquanaut Crew: John Herrington , Commander Nicholas Patrick Douglas H. Wheelock Tara Ruttley

NURC Support Crew: Craig B. Cooper Joseph March, Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 7: October 11–21, 2004 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Robert Thirsk , Commander Catherine Coleman Michael R. Barratt Craig McKinley

NURC Support Crew: James Talacek Billy Cooksey Bill Todd, Mission Director

NEEMO 8: April 20–22, 2005 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Michael L. Gernhardt , Commander John D. Olivas Scott Kelly Monika Schultz

NURC Support Crew: Craig B. Cooper Joseph March Bill Todd, Mission Director

NEEMO 9: April 3–20, 2006

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Dafydd Williams , Commander Nicole P. Stott Ronald J. Garan Jr. Timothy J. Broderick , M.D.

NURC Support Crew: James F. Buckley Ross Hein Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 10: July 22–28, 2006 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Koichi Wakata, Commander Andrew Feustel Karen L. Nyberg Karen Kohanowich

NURC Support Crew: Mark Hulsbeck Dominic Landucci Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 11: September 16–22, 2006 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Sandra Magnus, Commander Timothy Kopra Robert L. Behnken Timothy Creamer

NURC Support Crew: Larry Ward Roger Garcia Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 12: May 7–18, 2007

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Commander José M. Hernández Josef Schmid, M.D. Timothy J. Broderick, M.D.

NURC Support Crew: Dominic Landucci James Talacek Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 13: August 6–15, 2007 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Nicholas Patrick, Commander Richard R. Arnold Satoshi Furukawa Christopher E. Gerty

NURC Support Crew: James F. Buckley Dewey Smith Marc Reagan, Mission Director

NEEMO 14: May 10–23, 2010 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Chris Hadfield, Commander Thomas H. Marshburn Andrew Abercromby Steve Chappell

Aquarius Reef Base support crew: James Talacek Nate Bender Bill Todd, Mission Director

NEEMO 15: October 20–26, 2011 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Shannon Walker, Commander Takuya Onishi David Saint-Jacques Steve Squyres

Aquarius Reef Base support crew: James Talacek Nate Bender

DeepWorker 2000 submersible crew: Stanley G. Love Richard R. Arnold Michael L. Gernhardt

NEEMO 16: June 11–22, 2012

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Commander Kimiya Yui Timothy Peake Steve Squyres

Aquarius Reef Base support crew: James Talacek Justin Brown

DeepWorker 2000 submersible crew: Stanley G. Love Steve Giddings Serena M. Auñón Bill Todd Michael L. Gernhardt Andrew Abercromby Steve Chappell

SEATEST II: September 9–13, 2013 Space Environment Analog for Testing EVA Systems and Training ( NEEMO 17 ) Designation skipped

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Joseph M. Acaba, Commander Kate Rubins Andreas Mogensen Soichi Noguchi

Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Mark Hulsbeck Otto Rutten

NEEMO 18: July 21–29, 2014 NASA Aquanaut Crew: Akihiko Hoshide, Commander Jeanette J. Epps Mark T. Vande Hei Thomas Pesquet Professional habitat technicians, Aquarius Reef Base support crew: James Talacek Hank Stark (FIU)

NEEMO 19: September 7–13, 2014

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Randolph Bresnik, commander Andreas Mogensen, ESA Jeremy Hansen, CSA Hervé Stevenin, European Astronaut Centre EVA Training Unit Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Mark Hulsbeck Ryan LaPete

NEEMO 20: July 20 – August 2, 2015 NASA Aquanaut Crew:

Luca Parmitano, ESA, commander Serena M. Auñón, NASA David Coan, NASA EVA Management Office engineer Norishige Kanai, JAXA

Professional habitat technicians, Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Mark Hulsbeck (FIU) Sean Moore (FIU)

NEEMO 20 mission objective was to simulate the time delays associated with sending and receiving commands between controllers on Earth and astronauts on Mars. Additional EVAs will simulate working on the surface of an asteroid, and the use of the DeepWorker submersible as an underwater stand-in for the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle.

NEEMO 21: July 21 – August 5, 2016

The NEEMO 21 mission was scheduled to begin July 18, 2016 and conclude August 3, 2016; however, the mission start was shifted to July 21, 2016 as a result of unfavorable weather conditions.

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Reid Wiseman, NASA, Commander 1 Megan McArthur, NASA, Commander 2 Marc O´Gríofa Matthias Maurer, ESA Noel Du Toit Dawn Kernagis Professional habitat technicians, Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Hank Stark (FIU) Sean Moore (FIU)

NEEMO 22: June 18–27, 2017

NASA Aquanaut Crew: Kjell Lindgren, NASA, Commander Pedro Duque, ESA Trevor Graff, NASA/Jacobs Dominic D'Agostino, USF Professional habitat technicians, Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Mark Hulsbeck (FIU) Sean Moore (FIU)

NEEMO 23: June 10–22, 2019

NASA all-female Aquanaut Crew: Samantha Cristoforetti, ESA, Commander Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut candidate Csilla Ari D’Agostino, a neurobiologist at the University of South Florida Shirley Pomponi, Marine biologist at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University

Professional habitat technicians, Aquarius Reef Base support crew: Mark Hulsbeck (FIU) Tom Horn (FIU)

NEEMO

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