New York Post, Sunday, November 15, 2020nypost.comand Microgravity at the University of
Bremen. “Over time you’re getting
used to each other and you’re less
keen on always showing your positive
side and hiding your negative side.”
The crew starts out friendly
enough, chatting politely over meals
and participating in movie nights. As
the months drag on, however, some
of them are barely speaking to each
other. A schism quickly formed, with
Gifford and Stewart on one side and
the rest on the other.
“It wasn’t even two cliques as
much as two tribes,” Bassingth-
waighte says. “Soon, all your per-
sonal time was spent with people
who weren’t driving you crazy.”G
IFFOrD and Stewart were
more rigid and refused to
leave the habitat unless abso-
lutely necessary. The other
four enjoyed hours-long walks dur-
ing their twice-weekly missions.
After a few months, the group’s
mood went from fair to poor. The
drop was something the filmmakers
anticipated.
“There have been studies done on
ship voyages and any long-term ex-
perience of isolation,” Gorringe says.
“It always kind of follows this four-
quarter structure. There’s alwaysthird-quarter syndrome [when
things get bad].”
Minor annoyances become major
when there’s no escape, such as a
crew mate’s loud footsteps, or a pro-
pensity to leave half-filled cups of
water around, or playing loud pop
music.
Johnston would clomp loudly up
and down the stairs while exercising.
Stewart rubbed some the wrong way
by using the washing machine to
clean his clothes instead of hand
washing, which used much less water.
“When Andrzej shouted ‘burritos!’
with a Mexican accent, that wasn’t
great,” Bassingthwaighte says dryly.Members of the group sometimes
disagreed about how to handle prob-
lems, such as when the water pump
failed. Though there were never any
blowout fights, tensions in the dome
ran high.
“[Gifford] was a bit difficult for me
because she has this need to be in
control,” Heinicke says. “We could
have given up and be bitching at
each other, but we managed to keep
working together.”
One reason Heinicke was able to
hang on was that she had struck up
a romance with Verseux. (They
broke up soon after the year ended.)
“It helped a lot, just for the simplefact that you can go to your room and
have a private conversation, or have
a shoulder to cry on,” Heinicke says.
The coupling worried some of the
participants, because they feared
what would happen if the two broke
up mid-mission. Heinicke and Vers-
eux had a conversation in which they
agreed that if they did break up, they’d
remain professional and wouldn’t
date anyone else in the dome.
“It didn’t bother me,” Bassingth-
waighte says. “The most I ever saw
or heard was a sweet kiss at dinner
once. There was none of that ’80s
movie stuff where my postcards are
getting knocked off the wall and I’m
strapping on my Bose headphones.”
In August 2016, the mission drew
to a close and the participants were
allowed to exit, feeling the sun and
wind on their faces for the first time
in a year.
“When we saw them walk out of
that dome, it was pretty shocking,”
Gorringe says. “They were pale, had
lost weight, their teeth didn’t look
very good.”
Today, NASA is still analyzing the
data collected and a report will be
issued next year. The directors sus-
pect that the findings will highlight
some of the same techniques that are
getting us through quarantine.
“Exercise stands out for [helping
relieve] that time fog,” DeFilippo
says. “Also, definitely have a collec-
tive goal and something to work to-
wards each day.” Keeping in contact
with friends and family is also impor-
tant to stave off feelings of isolation
and loneliness, they concluded.
Despite all the challenges, “I had
a good time,” says Bassingthwaighte,
who’s now a terrestrial architect in
Honolulu but applies to SpaceX ev-
ery six months. “There were difficult
times, but I went into the dome after
living in Shanghai, with so many
people and so much pollution and
culture shock. Suddenly, I’m up on
a mountain not paying rent and pre-
tending to be an astronaut.
“It was like an adult Disney.”
The other participants might not
go that far, but all would jump at a
chance to travel to Mars for real.
They might truly be made of differ-
ent stuff than the rest of us. Espe-
cially Verseux. Shortly after HI-SEAS
concluded, he signed up for another
year-long isolation in Antarctica.Planet for a year, the challenge wasn’t the elements — but each other
Their 1,200-square-
foot dome (left) set
atop the rocky face
of Hawaii’s Mauna
Loa volcano didn’t
give HI-SEAS
participants much
room to move
around — or to be
free of annoying
crew members.The HI-SEAS crew
(left) disagreed on
issues ranging
from washing
clothes to
noisiness.
When they finally
emerged from their
dome (right) after
a year, they
appeared sickly.Katherine Gorringe; Sebastian Lasaosa RogersDavid Alvarado; Christiane Heinicke (inset)It wasn’t even
two cliques
as much as
two tribes.
Soon, all your
personal time
was spent
with people
who weren’t
driving
you crazy.
— space architect
Tristan
Bassingthwaighte