[meteorite-list] NASA Announces 15th Undersea Exploration Mission Date And Crew

[Ron Baalke]

Sept. 19, 2011

J.D. Harrington/ Michael J. Braukus 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-5241/1979 
j.d.harrington at nasa.gov/michael.j.braukus at nasa.gov 

Brandi Dean 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111 
brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov   


RELEASE: 11-309

NASA ANNOUNCES 15TH UNDERSEA EXPLORATION MISSION DATE AND CREW

WASHINGTON -- An international crew of astronauts will venture into 
the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 17 to test innovative solutions to 
engineering challenges during a crewed mission to an asteroid. 

NASA astronaut and former International Space Station crew member 
Shannon Walker will lead the 15th expedition of NASA Extreme 
Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), a13-day undersea mission 
aboard the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory near Key Largo, Fla. 

Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North 
Carolina, Wilmington. 

The NEEMO crew also includes Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 
astronaut Takuya Onishi and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David 
Saint-Jacques. They are members of the 2009 NASA astronaut class. 
Rounding out the crew is Steven Squyres of Cornell University, James 
Talacek and Nate Bender of the University of North Carolina, 
Wilmington. Squyres is the scientific principal investigator for the 
Mars Exploration Rover Project. Talacek and Bender are professional 
aquanauts. 

In addition, NASA astronauts Stan Love, Richard Arnold and Mike 
Gernhardt, all veteran spacewalkers, will participate in the NEEMO 
mission from the DeepWorker submersible, which they will pilot. The 
DeepWorker is a small submarine used as an underwater stand-in for 
the Space Exploration Vehicle, which might someday be used to explore 
the surface of an asteroid. 

Jeremy Hansen and Jeanette Epps, members of the 2009 astronaut class, 
are the capsule communicators for the mission. Hansen is from the 
Canadian Space Agency, and Epps from NASA. 

To request interviews with the NEEMO 15 crew during the mission, 
contact Brandi Dean at brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov; Julie Simard of the 
Canadian Space Agency at 450-926-4370; Takefumi Wakamatsu of the 
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 281-792-7486; or Fred Gorell of 
NOAA at 301-734-1010. 

NEEMO 15 will be the first of the undersea missions to simulate a 
visit to an asteroid. In May, a team of aquanauts set the stage for 
the tests by working through some of the concepts in an effort to 
improve efficiency. 

"NEEMO 15 will require complex choreography between the submarines and 
aquanauts living and working in their undersea home," said Bill Todd, 
NEEMO project manager. "Researching the challenges of exploring an 
asteroid surface in the undersea realm will be exciting for fans of 
exploration pioneers Cousteau and Armstrong alike." 

NEEMO 15 will investigate three aspects of a mission to an asteroid: 
how to anchor to the surface; how to move around; and how best to 
collect data. Unlike the moon or Mars, an asteroid would have little, 
if any, gravity to hold astronauts or vehicles, so an anchor will be 
necessary. 

NEEMO 15 will evaluate different anchoring methods and how to connect 
the multiple anchors to form pathways. The aquanauts and engineers 
will evaluate different strategies for deploying instruments and 
moving along a surface without gravity. 

For more information about NEEMO and links to follow the mission on 
Facebook and Twitter, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/neemo 

For more information about NASA field tests, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs   
	
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