evidence: Four dedicated explorers—Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi, and Piyumi Wijesekara—just returned from a 45-day simulated journey to Mars, testing the boundaries of human endurance and teamwork within NASA’s HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston. [...] When asked about what prompted her to apply for the mission, Wijesekara emphasized the importance of helping NASA collect data that could help future long-duration space flights, saying, "This will be very useful when we get to the Moon with Artemis missions and even beyond that when we go to Mars." [...] Wijesekara told the audience her favorite experience was performing spacewalks and "flying drones on Mars," via virtual reality, which allowed them to observe Martian landscapes and even lava caves. Through the habitat’s window screens, they could see simulated views of space and Martian landscapes.