After 365 days, the longest mission in project history, and amidst a throng of media from around the world, six crew members exited from their Mars simulation habitat on slopes of Mauna Loa on the Big Island.

The crew lived in isolation in a geodesic dome set in a Mars-like environment at approximately 8,200 feet above sea level as part of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s fourth Hawaiʻi Space Eploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS, project.

“HI-SEAS is an example of international collaborative research hosted and run by the University of Hawaiʻi,” said UH Mānoa Professor Kim Binsted, HI-SEAS’ principal investigator. “Its really exciting to be able to welcome the crew back to Earth and back to Hawaiʻi after a year on Mars.”