Hi I am Sandra
and this is Katie. We're at NASA Johnson
Space Center inside HERA the human
exploration research analog. We're on
campaign six Mission four.
our mission is to simulate a trip to the
Mars Moon Phobos as we travel we're
helping scientists learn more about
isolation confinement and remote
conditions that could influence how
astronauts live and work in deep space
all without even leaving Earth.
We're excited to answer your questions
hi I'm Riya Ferris and I'm a fourth
grader at Cascadia Elementary School
Seattle Washington
I was wondering
what's it like on the habitat
could you give me a little tour I'm
really interested in how you eat sleep
and work in such a small space thank you.
That's a great question Riya
and it is a challenge to live, work, and
eat in such a small place with four
people. When you first enter here through
the airlock you're gonna see our
scientific workspace this is where we do
the majority of our tasks during the
days where the four of us work
um and do various maintenance, repair, and
science tasks.
In addition we have what is known as our
hygiene module this is where
um we might use the bathroom go and take
a shower
um or just brush our teeth.
it's also we'll do our laundry we don't
have a laundry machine here so we have
to wash all of our clothes by hands to
keep everything clean.
If we go up to the second story of our
habitat which we can use this lovely
lift to
achieve. You'll see the area where we can
hang out eat in our Galley and rehydrate
some food and where we'll exercise. We
have a bike that we're all very fond of
and enjoy using
um as well as a couple of points and
some mats where we might do some
strength and resistance training or
maybe even just a little bit of yoga.
Then on our third level you'll see our
crew quarters this is where each of us
has a bunk to sleep. You'll note that
it's pretty sparse and we still won't
get a ton of privacy.
um We have some mesh nets, but we can all
see each other and it's much like you
might go if you went to a summer camp or
have a bunk bed in your room.
um We're all still very much in the same
space sleeping together but that is a
space that is all ours. Everybody can
imagine when you're home and the average
size of an American household is 2 000
square foot and that's a big space
compared to that we have 640 feet so-
square feet and that's quite a
difference, but we make it work. We are
scheduling our workouts and the hygiene
after that well nicely staggered so we
can all have our own space and our own
time in the hygiene module and shower
brush our teeth have some privacy while
we do all that and once one person is
out the other person is ready to go in
and we keep that pretty sacred and where
we love our time in our hygiene module
and get a nice warm shower don't we? Yeah
for sure. It's been really nice to eat
together as well.
You know it's such a small space we're
all able to come together maybe from the
several floors that we have in our
habitat and have a nice meal together
um but lunch and breakfast we each have
you know a couple of minutes maybe 45
minutes maybe half an hour to come
together and eat and just talk about how
our day is going
um and really reconnect as a team and
we're growing together like that really
nicely and it's it feels good.
Hi my name is Kalkul I'm in 10th grade at OSDV
Public School in India I was wondering:
what happens when something inside Hira
breaks while you're on your mission are
prepaired prepared for that? What happens if
power or water or any other system fails
that is needed for your survival or for
the success of your mission?
That is an excellent question, Kalkul.
Throughout HERA our ability to be
self-sufficient is put to the test. That
is one of the research topics and as
researchers want to know when we come
together. They also want to know how we
troubleshoot. And so there are several
different drills that we're going
through. There are procedures and
protocols for all of that and we are
following those to the point. As you
never know what would happen in space
which we're simulating if you don't
follow protocol. So it is very important
to follow the procedures that we were
given. And another point on that topic is
if there is a real emergency we're
consistently in contact with our mission
control and if there is something that
is putting the experiment HERA into
danger like hurricane since we are based
in Houston which can have hurricanes.
They will get us out in time and they
would break up the experiment to keep
everybody safe based on NASA procedures
and um guidelines.
So we are not worried about the outside
so we have an amazing team looking over
us on the outside and on the inside
we're going with the drills and we're
practicing that and it is working out
well right Katie? Yeah it's working out
great and in addition to all of our
amazing procedures we also had a good deal
of training before coming into the
habitat to make sure that we were well
prepared for any emergencies that we
might have either with the habitat
itself or medically so we're very well
prepared for anything that might come
our way.
My name is Marion and my name is Devin
and we're in Scout Pack 209 Katy, Texas.
My question is what kind of food do you
eat? And how do you know how much food to
bring?
I'm really glad you asked that question
Marion and Devin
um you know we have a lot of the food
available for us for 45 whole days and
none of that's fresh so
um but some of it that we are eating
every day might be similar to the food
that you eat when you go camping.
um We have nuts we have
canned fruits we might have a couple of
tortillas which are a fan favorite. I
think most of the crew is a big fan and
then we have dehydrated Foods we can get
our proteins our fruits and our
vegetables.
um All of our food was specifically
signed for us based on our weight how
much activity we're doing and how many
um calories grams of protein grams of
carbohydrates and all of that that we
might need so the nutritionists at NASA
did a really good job designing healthy
nutrient-filled meals to allow us to
successfully complete our mission and we
don't have any issues there. The food's
been pretty good I think everyone has
some fan favorites
my personal favorite is probably the
pasta primavera it's really tasty. Katie,
what do you miss that you can't get in
here. I definitely miss eggs.
um
Yeah I think we as a crew are pretty
excited to have a nice omelet or maybe a
over easy egg when we get out so. I miss
tomatoes the fresh smell and the
crunch or the crunchiness and the
softness. I can't wait to have a fresh
tomato when I get out.
Hi my name is kirana a sixth grader at
BHA Spring, Texas. I was curious how do you
have your privacy in such a small space
such as sleeping changing your clothes
using the toilet and showering. Thank you.
Kirana that's a great question
making sure that we're working together
as a team while we're still maintaining
personal space is a vital part of long
duration space flight.
And it is hard sometimes to have no
privacy, but with the crew that's already
grown together it is quite all right.
When you change that's kind of a hard
thing to do without all the Privacy that
we don't have, but we make it work
because it's easy enough to gather your
things and go down to the bathroom and
close the curtain and change and then you
come out nice and fresh and happy and
ready to interact with your crew again.
When we take a shower you have the
hygiene module to yourself
you can close the curtain you can get
undressed you go into the shower you
enjoy your nice warm hot shower that you
get once a day and you can wash your
hair and do your hygiene and when you
come out you can close the curtain
behind you again and apply your lotion
and do your regular things that you do
during your hygiene get dressed and when
you're ready you can come out from
behind the curtain and that is a really
nice privacy and evenings we have our
own bunk bed we don't have to sleep in
the same bunk bed all together so that's
a nice little space that we also have to
ourselves and everybody has a little
picture or two of their family up there
so just before the lights go out that's
something that you can look at and pull
some energy from nice too. Hello my name
is Charles and I go in the sixth grade
at Tal Crogan School in Stockholm Sweden.
I am wondering what do you miss most
about the life outside your habitat. Like
how does it feel to not be able to touch
grass
a refresher or see the Sun for 45 days.
Thanks
Charles thanks so much for your question
missing home is definitely a
consideration for long-term space fight
and we're really glad that you asked. I
think the thing that I certainly miss
the most is my family and I think that's
probably the same for most of our crew
members. You know, we all really miss can
you almost just pick up the phone and
talk to our family or see them at the
end of a work day and that's really been
an adjustment in addition to that I
personally really miss going outside and
running and the Sunshine
um kind of smelling the grass as I move
along, but I have been really grateful
here and still get some exercise in and
to have pictures of my family and to get
to talk to them for an allotted amount
of time each week and they're really
supportive and understanding
um that this research is very important
so that's been a good motivator for
keeping Spirits high and knowing that in
45 days you know the sun will still be
there in so will families and we're really
excited to get back to both.
Sandra, do you have anything that you
missed the most and what are some of
your
what are some of your strategies for
coping with uh the isolation and the
things that you do Miss that's a good
question Katie so for me I missed the
most
green that you're on
about walking along the lake
see the grass that you smell the the
soil and you see the birds flying over
and the blue sky and there's puffy
clouds drifting over you but you know
it's only 45 days. Yes it sounds a lot
but if you compare 45 days to a year or
two or three 45 days it's really not that much
and oh if you take it day by day and you
remember that your family outside
supports you and thinks that this is a
very important mission to accomplish and
we feel certainly the same way because
we are here
um it is not that hard to
look forward to it and knowing that it's
happening soon again and to keep the
spirits high and we know Earth is out
there and we'll see it soon again and
the Sunshine will be out and spring is
coming when we come out so that's
something to look forward to. Hello my
name is Tawana and I'm a 9th grade
student at Lakecrest Independent School
in St John's Canada
my question for you is have you
deliberately made or noticed any
personality changes during a stay on the
mission and will those personality
changes be kept after the mission is
completed?
Thank you and good luck.
Oh very insightful question, Tawana. It's
it's very important question how
different personalities deal and adapt
with working together that's a key part
of HERA.
For me the biggest adjustment is that I
am taking it in more deeply that I'm
realizing where I am and that this is a
big deal to be here and to be part of
this HERA Mission and to be part of C6
M4.
It's an honor to be here and be part of
NASA making progress to deep space
missions and playing my little part in
it. So I'm very happy about that and I
think I will come out of here with a lot
of gratitude
and I will see the world in a different
way
and all the opportunities that present
itself and also I'm in here with a
member of our crew who's Spanish and I
learned what uh bless you means in
Spanish and I will take that out because
salute sounds really cute and that will
be something that I will use for the
rest of my life. What about you Katie?
Yeah as Sandra alluded to this is a
very International crew we have members
from Germany members from Spain members
from the northern US as well as the
southern US and it's been really great
to live and work with such an
international and such a talented team.
um I think
you know being flexible with each other
and really communicating clearly and
being open to these different customs
and these different mannerisms is key to
all of us getting along and enjoying
each other's company and I think that
we've been really successful in that
I've been learning a little bit of
German a little bit of Spanish as well
um and it's been a lot of fun I think
we've been having a good time.
um
hi my name is Laura I'm in grade 8 at
the United Nations International School
Hanoi Vietnam
I was wondering what information is this
Mission providing that you can't already
get from the ISS and to flip that
question around a bit what living
conditions are difficult to simulate.
thank you.
Laura that's a really important point
about ground analogs here on Earth HERA
and other ground analogs like it
are not meant to replace the
international station which has been
providing exceptional information about
how humans live and work in space for
decades. We're really meant to supplement
some of these larger questions about
um how behaviors about astronauts and
teams might form and what some of the
effects of isolation and confinement
might be when it kind of pulled back
from some of the other complicating
factors on the ISS are such as the
effects of microgravity or the effects
of bone loss. You really have to
understand that HERA is a much smaller
space than the ISS it's only about 600
square feet whereas the ISS is the much
bigger space for our astronauts to be
working in and before we take that leap
and it's an astronauts into deep space
in such a small and confined area we
need to understand what are some methods
for communicating and what are some
methods for adapting and designing for
these longer duration space missions and
much smaller spaces than the ISS, but
with HERA we can really trial many more
experiments and look at methods for
creating a long duration environment or
high autonomy environment here on Earth
and get those results before we decide
to launch something to the international
station for further testing. thank you
for all of your amazing questions. You
can learn more on the HERA website.
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