Four NASA astronauts have emerged from a 3D-printed habitat in Houston after spending 378 days cut off from the outside world.

The crew exited isolation on Saturday after completing a NASA exercise intended to prepare astronauts for a possible journey to Mars. They had lived inside the 1,700-square-foot (158-square-meter) structure at the US space agency's Johnson Space Center since Oct. 19, 2025.

Their tasks during the simulated mission included growing crops in simulated Martian soil and communicating with NASA officials under delays recreating those inherent in interplanetary communications.

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[–] 4 points 1 week ago

If the purpose is to "explore" Mars, it's cheaper, faster, and much more efficient to continue to send robots, which are getting better and better. The one job AI should take from humans.

There's no good reason to send fragile humans into such a hostile environment, beyond just saying we did it--a sort of pride.

Terraforming Mars is several hundred years away, and may not even be possible, without a geomagnetic field.

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