KONA, HAWAII -- Imagine this: you've been living in a dome about half of a volleyball court in size on Mars for eight months. You left the Red Planet and are returning home, but when your re-entry capsule is at 13,000 feet above the ground, you have to exit the vehicle and spend the last few minutes of your trip falling to Earth. This was the experience for the six crew members of the NASA Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation Mission Three June 13 as they left their dome habitat on Mauna Loa, Hawaii; boarded a 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division CH-47 Chinook helicopter; climbed to 13,000 feet above Kona, Hawaii; and jumped from the helicopter in tandem with members of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, "Golden Knights."
"As soon as I was strapping in, the butterflies in my stomach were flying all over the place," said Sophie Milam, one of the HI-SEAS crewmembers. "We stood up and got to the edge and it was surprisingly calm. Then we jumped out. I remember flipping and seeing the helicopter above me, and it was incredible. Everything was just so pretty."
"The sensation is crazy," said Zak Wilson, another of the six HI-SEAS crewmembers. "Everything was just kind of mellow in the dome. And then, in 30 seconds in a helicopter, I'm further away from my home than I have been in eight months. We jump out and the wind is rushing through my face like, 'Whoa!' It's a whole different world."
NASA's HI-SEAS mission simulates what it might be like to live in a small space with a six-person crew during a mission to Mars or other long duration, isolated missions. Wilson said that the scientific study looked at crew dynamics and how to pick teams for such missions.
"It was an interesting experience being around such a small group of people," Wilson added. "It's not a normal situation, so I learned a lot about myself and social interactions in general."
"The group size is just small enough where you get to know everyone really, really well," Milam said. "You know what annoys people, and you know how to make people laugh, and that's always good in that kind of situation."
One of the things that helped relieve stress for the team was exercise. The workout program of choice in the dome was P90X, and the crew called program creator Tony Horton their "seventh crew member." Through a series of online interactions between Tony and the crew, a relationship was built, so Tony came out to Hawaii participated in the jump with them.
"It was an amazing experience," Horton said. "I was surprised when I saw them doing P90X on TV. To get the chance to come to Hawaii and meet them, and then skydive from 13,000 feet with the Golden Knights, it was one of the best experiences in my life."
While the focus of the event was the end of the NASA mission, none of it could have happened without the Golden Knights. They came from Ft. Bragg, NC make sure the HI-SEAS crew came back to Earth in coolest way possible.
"We took them up to 13,000 feet," said Staff Sgt. Richard Sloan, a Golden Knights tandem instructor. "We exited a 25th CAB Chinook helicopter, did 120 miles per hour with them, and brought them down to a nice, soft landing."
A tandem jump is when a new or novice skydiver is attached to a more experienced parachutist at the shoulders and hips by a fitted harness and the two jump together.
"We do tandem camps quite often," said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Acevedo, a Golden Knights tandem instructor. "We'll do jumps with politicians, educators, and first responders. This one is a little more unique since we're working with NASA."
The HI-SEAS crew said they couldn't think of a better way to end their grand experiment.
"This was one of the most amazing combinations of experiences," Milam said. "Getting out today and then getting to go up with the Army and come back down with the Golden Knights, it really added this incredible sense of finality and made the mission a million times better, feeling like I came back to Earth."
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