Aki Hoshide (at right) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who will serve as commander of the crew of NEEMO 18, is pictured prior to the start of the nine-day underwater mission, with the crew members joining him. They are (from left on the deck) the European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet, and NASA's Jeanette Epps and Mark Vande Hei, all of whom will work inside a 400 square-foot habitat and occasionally outside it when performing extravehicular activity.