Mars500

January 9, 2012

An isolation experiment in Russia simulated a 520-day human mission to Mars. Six volunteers were locked away in windowless cells in June 2010. The $15-million Mars500 experiment, which ended on Nov. 4, was the first full-duration simulation of a human expedition to Mars. During the mission, the crew was hermetically isolated.
After 250 days the crew was divided in half, three sent to a Martian surface simulator and three kept in the ‘spacecraft’. Crew lived and worked like astronauts on the International Space Station. Crewmembers were monitored, and their psychological, medical and physical signs recorded.