NASA's NEEMO

A little-known but long-running and important experiment involves a truck-sized habitat called Aquarius, 60 feet beneath the ocean surface off the Florida Keys. The habitat, owned by NOAA and operated in partnership with NASA under a program called NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) puts "aquanauts" including NASA astronauts in the habitat to study people and technology in an environment with some similarities to a space mission. The mission beginning tomorrow focuses on medical experiments, including remote operation of surgical robots. This story by SpaceRef includes links to live webcams showing the NEEMO mission.