Mission Complete: Lee Spends 45 Days in NASA Simulated Journey to Mars

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by Olivia Drake – UConn College of Engineering

By participating in the mission, College of Engineering’s Jason Lee contributed to NASA’s efforts to study how future astronauts may react to isolation and confinement during deep-space journey.

College of Engineering Associate Professor-in-Residence Jason Lee, pictured third from left, recently participated in a 45-day simulated space mission at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Also pictured are his crew mates, Piyumi Wijesekara, Shareef Al Romaithi, and Stephanie Navarro. (James Blair/NASA)

Jason Lee’s lifelong aspiration to explore outer space became a reality—without ever needing to leave planet Earth.

For 45 days, Lee, associate professor-in-residence in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, lived in NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) habitat at Johnson Space Center, participating in a simulated journey to Mars.

There, he and three other crew members operated in a constrained environment, completing mission-critical tasks, conducting repairs, viewing Martian landscapes through virtual reality, and making communication attempts with Mission Control.

Read more in the UConn Today article.