Yesterday was splashdown for the NASA astronauts in their yearly underwater training off Florida. This year’s mission is the 21st NEEMO mission and will take place in the Aquarius Undersea Reef Base where the crew will live 62 feet underwater for 16 days in simulated space craft conditions.

“Inside the habitat, the international crew will conduct a variety of research and operational studies, such testing a mini DNA sequencer and a medical telemetry device that will be used for future space applications. During their simulated spacewalks, the crew will collect samples for marine biology and geology studies, team with underwater remote operating vehicles, test operational software, and participate in a coral restoration project. Throughout many of these tasks, the mission will also test time delays in communications to simulate scenarios often encountered in space exploration.”

You can follow the mission on the NASA NEEMO 21 Twitter page here.