Simulated Mars Mission Passes One-Year Mark

Six mock astronauts who are flying on a simulated trip to Mars and back without ever leaving Earth have passed the one-year mark of their 500-day mission, which keeps the crew isolated inside a pretend spaceship near Moscow.

The Russian Mars500 project hit the mock mission's milestone on June 3.  The ambitious simulation aims to recreate an entire trip to Mars in hopes of preparing future astronauts for the real journey, and assessing how humans cope with the long spaceflight that it would take to travel to and from the Red Planet. The European Space Agency and China are partners in the experiment.

The Mars500 project involves a crew of six volunteers – three Russians, two Europeans and one Chinese – who have been isolated from the rest of the world for more than 364 days. In recent letters home, the "astronauts" talked about the highlights of the trip, the monotony of their daily lives, their collective team spirit, and the determination to carry on. …

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