Sri Lanka, April 18 -- NASA has selected a new crew of four volunteers to participate in a simulated mission to Mars within a habitat at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi, and Piyumi Wijesekara will step into the agency's Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA, on Friday, May 10. Once inside, the team will live and work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will exit the facility on June 24 after they "return" to Earth. Jose Baca and Brandon Kent are this mission's alternate crew members.

HERA enables scientists to study how crew members adapt to isolation, confinement, and remote conditions before NASA sends astronauts on deep space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond...