RUSSIA/FILE: Six-man Mars500 crew nears end of 520-day isolation experiment, designed to test strains of interplanetary travel

Record ID: 726948

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Six-man Mars500 crew nears end of 520-day isolation experiment, designed to test strains of interplanetary travel
  • Date: 3rd November 2011
  • Summary: KOROLYOV, NEAR MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE- FEBRUARY 2011) (REUTERS) WIDE OF MISSION CONTROL VIEWING ROOM SCREEN SHOWING MARS 500 'COSMONAUTS' IN SPACE SUITS INSIDE SIMULATED LANDING AREA MISSION CONTROL STAFF IN VIEWING AREA
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Health,Technology,Space
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVUHF1QQP12T8TJB1SKUOHMIW
  • Story Text: The six-man Mars500 crew is set to 'return to earth' on Friday (November 4), opening the hatch of their simulated spacecraft for the first time in 520 days, and ending an isolation experiment designed to test the strains of interplanetary travel.
    The crew, made up of men from Europe, China and Russia have been locked up in a 160-square-metre (1,722 square ft) module, parked at an institute on Moscow's outskirts for 17 months - a time period meant to reflect a real journey to Mars - 250 days in flight, 30 days in orbit and surface landing and 240 days for the return flight to Earth.
    Daily routines in the capsule are structured to resemble a real space mission. The crew has a schedule filled with scientific experiments, maintaining their 'spaceship', and communicating with the outside world with time delays up to 20 minutes long.
    They have been conducting regular experiments, attempting to test one of the biggest unknowns of deep space travel: the mental and physical strains of such a journey.
    Crew member Romain Charles, after spending one year in the capsule, was positive about the experiment.
    "We're up to one year inside our house. I'm feeling good. We have a lot of fun together, but we also went through some long period of monotone and even through those periods we always kept a good spirit together," Charles said.
    Mars500 project manager Jennifer Ngo-Anh said she was surprised at some of the coping mechanisms the crew found to deal with the monotony of isolated living.
    "One thing that we did not foresee, but that they're using to break the monotony with is creativity. So, what they have been doing is - for Halloween for example they dressed themselves up with scientific equipment. For Christmas they came up with their own self-made Nativity scene, and they also celebrated the Chinese New Year using Chinese folklore things, so the creativity has helped them a lot with breaking the monotony," Ngo-Anh said.
    One of the highlights of the mission, according to crew members, was the Mars 'landing' when two of the crew - Russian Alexander Smoleyevsky and Italian-Columbian Diego Urbina held a 'spacewalk' after eight trying months of cramped living.
    Russia's mission control centre, which monitors real-life space flights, broadcast live footage of the two crew members trudging awkwardly under the weight of 32-kilogram (70-pound) space suits through a dark, sand-filled and rock-strewn room meant imitate the martian surface.
    Urbina said the time spent in the room lit by tiny blue-colored lights meant to imitate stars was the most exciting event of the experiment.
    "(It was) the most exciting experience that we have had so far - truly out of the common day that we spend in here. Here we are in 50 cubic metres, in the room of 50 cubic metres, so seeing this huge room with stars really makes a difference," Urbina said.
    Nearing the mid-way mark of their long 'journey' French crew member Romain Charles, 31, said he was glad that the team had been able to maintain a sense of unity throughout the long experiment.
    "I'm happy that we didn't have any conflict coming out of any of our initial disagreements and it's good to know we are still one team even one year after the start of this isolation study," Charles said.
    The Mars 500 crew - led by 38-year-old Russian engineer Alexei Sitev - also includes Russian surgeon Sukhrob Kamolov and Russian doctor Alexander Smolevsky, 33. The mission also includes China's Wang Yue who is also 27.
    On November 4 the crew will 'touch down' on planet earth, opening their hatch for the first time in almost 18 months.
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