The NEEMO 9 mission team includes medical practitioners and astronauts, but all become "aquanauts" for the undersea mission. Remote medical care testing is part of the main objective, which is to prepare for exploration and navigation on the Moon. The habitat environment offers a chance to try out exploration techniques, such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and technologies for gathering and sorting rock samples.

NEEMO 9 is a joint project involving McMaster University's Centre for Minimal Access Surgery, the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, the Canadian Space Agency, and NASA.