The 11th NEEMO mission to date ended today with “splashup” at about 8:45 am, concluding another safe and successful mission. All mission objectives were accomplished, the crew is healthy, and we are another step closer to successfully returning people to explore the lunar surface.
This has been a busy time at NASA with human exploration extending from inner to outer space. Last week we had a record 4 separate vehicles in space at once (the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, a Progress resupply vehicle, and a Soyuz crew transfer vehicle). Yesterday the Space Shuttle Atlantis landed after a successful mission which resumed assembly on the International Space Station. And yesterday the NEEMO and ISS crews were able to conduct a ship-to-ship video linkup. Former NEEMO 1 crewmember Michael Lopez-Alegria and NEEMO 3 crew commander Jeff Williams are currently on the ISS doing a crew handover and were able to participate, along with some of their other crewmates. This marks the first time we’ve had 2 NEEMO alumni in orbit at once, and was a nice opportunity for them to swap stories with the current crew.
We want to take this opportunity to thank our hosts here at the National Undersea Research Center. They have helped forge a solid partnership between NASA and NOAA to the benefit of both agencies. Their professionalism and commitment to safety is second to none. They take great care of the nation’s only undersea research facility, they keep a close eye on our crewmembers, and they take great care of our Topside team and visitors. So to the habitat technicians, Roger Garcia and Larry Ward - a hearty “thank you” for teaching our crewmembers how to live as aquanauts. To Mark Hulsbeck, thanks for the training you contributed prior to the mission. To Craig Cooper and Jim Buckley, thanks for managing this (and all) NEEMO mission so professionally. This is the only undersea research facility in the world because you guys ensure that it can be safe and operational every day of the year. And for the rest of the Aquarius staff who potted daily, manned the watchdesk 24/7, and did it all with a smile, we can’t thank you enough. Finally, special and sincere thanks to NURC Associate Director Otto Rutten for being our host and boat captain for the last 2 weeks. It wouldn’t have been possible without you all.
We can’t properly thank everyone who had a hand in making this mission successful, but a few key entities should be noted:
- JSC’s Mission Ops Directorate, for the funding (via the Constellation Program), the majority of the manpower that keeps this project flourishing, and your unflagging support;
- The Houston (ExPOC) team, for your preparation, long hours, and tireless perseverance;
- JSC’s Flight Crew Ops Directorate, for the manpower, support, and part of the crew;
- Dr. Mike Gernhardt, Kevin Rullman, Jennifer Jadwick, and Mary Sue Bell for the preparatory work on so many of the exploration objectives we accomplished;
- Previous NEEMO crews who helped pave the way; and
- The families and friends of all of us who’ve been away so long making this mission a success. We appreciate your sacrifices!
Stay tuned for NEEMO 12, a 12-day mission focused on telesurgery and Lunar exploration concepts. It is scheduled for May 2007.
Thanks for your support and following along!
- NEEMO 11 Topside Team
Solid, solid sleep!! Last night we all slept deeply. Perhaps it was the 17-hour long process of decompression, or perhaps it was just the release of a fast-paced, very productive, focused mission being nearly over. Regardless, we slept like rock fish!
During the night, we had an additional HabTech onboard Aquarius with us, James, to help monitor the atmosphere and make sure we weren’t “ascending” too fast in our internal pressure and that our oxygen partial pressure was correct. This huge NEEMO effort is supported by many folks whose hard work enables us to do the mission, and this is just one example of this grand team effort.
As a crew, we awoke about 6 am or so, not only excited about returning to land, but also with some mixed feelings. The two huge groupers came by both the bunk room portal as well as the galley portal, almost as if they knew we were departing, simply to say good bye. Swarms of yellowtail fish and several of the sergeants major fish also danced at our windows – many of them recognizable from some distinguishing characteristics. And of course, our favorite and curious barracuda was also dropping by. It felt very much like a family’s send off, a farewell.
While we were waving to our undersea friends, we also spent the time today to clean our home for the next set of visitors. From top to bottom, we wiped down all the surfaces, checked in all the crevices, and vacuumed the carpets. We wanted to be sure that Aquarius was in at least as good of shape as we found her, if not better.
Final packing also occurred, as we awaited our vessel to reach the surface pressure of one atmosphere. Once there, we potted up everything that needed to be kept at 1 atm, staged all the necessary items near the wet porch doorway, and readied ourselves for the quick “descent” back to 2.5 atm. Ten minutes later, we were back down at pressure and opened the lock to the wet porch. Dressed in fins and masks, and with our individual pony bottles, we ascended the guide line to the surface and our boat.
It was only a week and we made hundreds of friends, gained a new sense of wonder by being able to observe nature right out of our windows and faceplates. We’ve assisted in developing principles for exploring beyond our home planet, aided in the design of future spacesuits, and tested the idea of accomplishing a construction project in a remote environment. The six of us bonded as a team and will cherish the photographs from this mission, reminding us of the special time we spent down here under the sea. In addition, we are very grateful that we could share this NEEMO mission together, and with you.
Come join us on yet another NEEMO mission, or better yet…come join us as we take what we’ve learned here and begin exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Today we began the journey back to the surface and to dry land. Our day began like all the others, we had a DPC early this morning so that we could be prepared for the day’s events. The mission control team talked with us by telecon and then headed out to the habitat to support our tasks.
Our first activity was to drive the remotely operated vehicle (our robot) around the outside of the habitat so that we could search for anything out of the ordinary. We searched for unexplained bubbles that would indicate a leak in the habitat and took a close look at each of the portals to make sure that they were all in good shape. Since the habitat is in really good shape and we didn’t expect to find anything, the mission control team had hidden something outside for us to find. That was mission control room team’s test to make sure that we had performed a very detailed search. The third operator this morning found the item and we were very glad to have successfully performed the inspection! Using the camera on the robot, we took a picture and e-mailed it to the control room team.
After the inspection we had several educational events. During these events we link up live with different groups of school students and describe our activities. Normally, we also have time for a question and answer session. Today the first event was with one of our crewmember’s hometown and with students from his high school. This was really neat, and the Pattonville High School students who were watching from the St. Louis Science Center were really great to talk to!
Our next event was very exciting for us. It was a live video link-up with the crews currently on the International Space Station. Since we are currently transitioning to a new space station crew, there are two teams of astronauts onboard the space station. Two of the astronauts in space right now have previously lived in the Aquarius habitat during other NEEMO missions.
After completing these events, we began to send equipment to the surface that we had finished using. We also sent up most of our personal items, since tomorrow morning we will SCUBA to the surface and end our mission. A lot of it was dirty laundry that we were happy to send away!
After we completed sending up the items that we don’t plan to use anymore, we began the slow ascent to the surface. The process to go to the surface involves closing the hatches of the habitat and then pumping the pressure inside down to the same level as the pressure at the ocean surface. The habitat is very slowly pumped down over a period of 16 hours. It also includes an extended period of breathing 100% oxygen to help rid our bodies of the nitrogen that has been absorbed into our blood. None of us want to get decompression sickness, so we really want to get this process right! The team of habitat technicians that we have is really top notch and has everything going perfectly. Since the hatches are closed and we can’t perform any more dives, we had a relaxing evening talking, eating pizza, and watching movies.
Well, that about covers our final full day here at the Aquarius habitat. We have all really become accustomed to living on the ocean floor with all our new ocean friends. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and all hope to have an opportunity to come back!
Update: We will broadcast this event from 2:57PM until 3:04PM from our webcam page.
Tomorrow afternoon (exact time is still unknown), Aquanauts from the Aquarius Underwater Habitat will sync-up live with Astronauts from the International Space Station for a special video conference. NASA has graciously allowed us to broadcast a portion of this event live from our webcam page. Check back here later for an update on the time this will take place. To be updated automatically, subscribe to this page via RSS.
Well, it was another busy day here under the ocean. We had three scheduled dives today so it was our busiest day yet. We got up at our normal wake up time of 6 am, and soon after we had the daily planning conference where we coordinated the surface support for all three dives. The topside team had to set out shortly after the conference since our first dive started early in the morning. Tim and Bob went out first and participated in a study which was trying to determine what the optimal weight of a future planetary-based space suit should be. On the second dive, TJ and Sandy did the same tasks. We were wearing a special suit and vest which allowed the topside surface support divers to place weights in various places and allowed us to remove them as required. With each weight configuration, we ran through a course of activities that included walking, kneeling, lying down and getting back up again, shoveling, moving rocks or weights around and climbing a ladder. The total weight that we started with was related to a certain proportion of our body weight, and then after that we reduced incrementally. It was interesting to note the difference between the various configurations. Of course, you can certainly have too much weight so that it makes it difficult to do tasks, but you can also have too little weight, which prevents you from getting your foot down to the ground to push off. We are hoping that the data we collected will help the design team in identifying the optimal weight.
After everyone was done with their dives for the weight study, we had a really quick lunch and then got Bob and Tim suited up and ready to go back out to finish off the lunar science scenario dive. TJ and Sandy had done part one of this scenario on mission day three and now Bob and Tim were going to complete the data collection. The plan had changed a bit but all had been discussed in the morning conference and the team was ready to go. This was to be our last dive out of Aquarius and we really wanted it to go well. The task for the last dive involved extensive use of the underwater navigational aid. The mission control team was hoping that we could take some new points and also repeat some points. In general, the idea was to build a map of the area around Aquarius using the means that we have on hand. After the guys left the wet porch, loaded down with the navigational aid, underwater camera, and the coral science tools, the support divers came down and outfitted them with the center of gravity rigs. Not only were Tim and Bob completing the coral science work, but at the same time they were to evaluate two of the center of gravity configurations. Definitely a busy day! The dive went well and we were able to collect most of the data that the mission control folks had requested. When the guys came up into the wet porch that last time, we were kind of sad, knowing that we were not going to be able to walk around on the bottom of the ocean. At the same time, we also had a great feeling of accomplishment, knowing that we had done a lot during our five days of diving.
Just like the feeling of floating in space, it is hard to describe what it feels like to walk around on the bottom of the ocean. The ocean is teeming with life and it is something that you do not think about every day. There are fish of all kinds of varieties, shapes, sizes, and colors just in the small area around Aquarius. The variety and color of the coral is also amazing. When you are walking along the bottom of the ocean, you hear the sound of your own breathing in your helmet as you take in air and release bubbles, but you also see all of the apparently silent flow of life around you. Our weight is a lot lower than it is on dry land, so we actually bounce more than walk. We hope it is a good simulation of how we might move around on the moon. Walking around on the bottom of the ocean floor was a really neat experience for all of us! In addition, just like looking out the window of the Orbiter at the Earth, you never get tired of watching the activities of the ocean inhabitants.
Our mission is winding down. Tomorrow all of our activities are inside the habitat, with the main one being a vehicle survey of the habitat using the rover. We also have to start packing up our items and stage them for returning to the surface.