1,000-day ‘space mission’ will sail the sea

The Schooner Anne, for example, isn’t required to provide basic life support systems like breathable air, and it is already stocked with tons of supplies that include about 12,000 pounds (5,450 kilograms) of drinking water and about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of coal and wood for heat and cooking. Stowe believes that with his current stores of beans, rice and pasta, as well as the availability of fish and rainwater, resupply won’t be necessary.

Space station missions are typically supplied with fresh food, air, water, spare parts and other hardware every three months or so, though astronauts aboard a Mars-bound mission would likely have to make do with what they take with them.

The two seafarers also won’t have the cadre of medical and psychological experts watching over them daily as current astronauts do.

Sipes said space station astronauts consult regularly with a NASA crew surgeon during private medical conferences and have the option of calling on anyone on the ground to go over a question. Psychological conferences are held about every two weeks, he added.

Stowe said that both he and Molina have met with a physician and dentist to ensure their health for the upcoming voyage, but will be checking in with their doctor periodically throughout their trip. Sickness or injuries have not proven a problem on Stowe’s past sailing trips, but his own personal dental history has given him pause.

"That’s probably my only fear, is that something will go wrong with my teeth," Stowe said. "If something does come up, I imagine I’ll just take some aspirin and do my best."

Analogues for exploration
NASA officials said exploration analogues such as Stowe’s mission, mock Mars excursions by the Mars Society to Devon Island and Utah locations and even the space agency’s own undersea NEEMO expeditions to the Aquarius underwater laboratory can yield valuable experience for future spaceflight.

"Certainly, those are training tools because they can also give [astronauts] the same kind of opportunity to experience aspects of human spaceflight," Sipes said, adding that routine milestones on Earth such as holidays or birthdays become paramount during long-duration missions. "It’s important to realize that people are complex, which makes it all the more important to keep the normal things in life during the isolation of a long mission."

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