By Alex Greig PUBLISHED: 23:50 EST, 11 August 2013 | UPDATED: 06:47 EST, 12 August 2013 A $1 million NASA research mission is nearing completion as six crew members prepare to come back down to Earth - from the slope of a Hawaiian volcano. HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) aims to address problems that may be encountered in future space missions by simulating exploration in areas of the world similar to space environments. The aim of this first mission, funded by NASA’s Human Research Program, the University of Hawaii and Cornell University, was to learn about living and cooking in Mars.
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A six-person research mission to the Mars-like terrain of a Hawaiian volcano ends today
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The crew's aim was to learn about living and cooking on Mars
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They lived in a geodesic dome and only ventured outside fully kitted out in spacesuits
The volcano is a barren landscape, an abandoned quarry with little vegetation that's as similar to @placeholder' landscape as planet Earth can get.