NASA announced today that they will be sending aquanauts on two deep sea missions with NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations to provide information for future space missions.NEEMO will conduct activities on the ocean floor that will advise future International Space Station and exploration activities, NASA said.
“It is both challenging and exciting for our astronaut crews to participate in these undersea missions in preparation for spaceflight,” NEEMO project manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Bill Todd said.
NEEMO 18 will be a nine-day mission set to begin on July 21, while NEEMO 19 will last for seven days beginning on Sept. 7.
Both missions will focus on specific studies. NEEMO 18 will focus on behavioral health and performance, human health issues and habitability, while NEEMO 19 will focus its studies on telementoring operations for the European Space agency.
Telementoring is when a crew member is given instruction for a task by an expert who is located remotely, but is virtually present via a video and voice connection.
Both missions will include Extravehicular (EVA) objectives and engineering investigations to further develop technologies and training techniques for use on the space station, NASA said.
The crew will live 62 feet under the Atlantic Ocean’s surface, 5.4 nautical miles off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.
