MOSCOW (Reuters) - Four Russians, a Frenchman and a German ended a simulated 105-day space trip in Moscow on Tuesday designed to test their responses in the kind of isolated surroundings they would experience in a manned mission to Mars.
Stepping out of their sealed compartments in a Moscow scientific complex, the crew members were ending one test just as space agencies step up preparations for a longer 520-day isolation experiment expected to start next year.
The six men were monitored constantly as they responded to physical tests in cramped conditions designed to better understand how humans would cope on a Mars mission, that would take at least 500 days.
All six smiled, waved and put their arms around each other as they emerged into the first sunlight they had seen since March 31 last, giving no indication that any personal animosities developed in the quarantined environment....
