Nemmo 16 Crew Conduct Asteroid Procedures

ISS Update commentator Josh Byerly interviews astronaut Stan Love about the NEEMO 16 mission from Aquarius Base. The international crew of the NEEMO 16 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission have begun their mission at the Aquarius underwater habitat in Key Largo, Florida. The 10 day mission will simulate Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) exploration procedures, although a real mission remains a notional and undefined target. More from NASASPACEFLIGHT.COM

The NEEMO 16 crew consists of Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Commander, Kimiya Yui, Timothy Peake and Steve Squyres. More about the mission from SCIENCE JOURNALIST ALAN BOYLE AND NPR.

The effort to steer NASA's human spaceflight to the ASTEROIDS BEGAN IN 2006 and CRYSTALLIZED IN 2009, followed a presidential directive by BARACK OBAMA in April 2010. Just this year, a mission to an asteroid was APPROVED TO LAUNCH IN 2016 with the goal returning an asteroid soil sample to Earth by 2023. Mining companies, like PLANETARY RESOURCES, are being readied to pursue a commercial effort.

Categories: aliens, aquanauts, nasa personnel