Simulated Mars mission ‘lands’ back on Earth
Six men locked away in steel tubes for a year-and-a-half to simulate a mission to Mars have emerged from isolation.
The Mars500 project, undertaken at a Moscow institute, was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a long-duration spaceflight.
It is a venture that has fascinated all who have followed it around the globe.
The study even saw three of the men carry out a pretend landing on Mars, donning real spacesuits and walking across an enclosed sandy yard.
Aim was to gather knowledge and experience to help prepare for real Mars mission
This meant probing the psychological and physiological effects of extended isolation
About 100 experiments were planned; crew partook in a series of medical studies
Crew used specially made gym equipment to prevent muscle wastage
A Nintendo Wii and drums for the game Guitar Hero were supplied to fight boredom
Crew member Wang Yue taught the rest of the team Chinese to get over the language barrier
How will real Mars mission differ?
“It’s really great to see you all again - rather overwhelming,” said European Space Agency (Esa) participant Diego Urbina after stepping through the opened hatch of the Mars500 “spaceship”.
“On the Mars500 mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, but reachable, planet.”
The rest of the crew - Russians Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Sukhrob Kamolov, European Romain Charles and Chinese national Wang Yue - smiled and waved to family members who had come to greet them at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP).
The crew has now been taken away into quarantine for medical checks.