They survived a "mission to Mars" that helped us understand the challenges of long-term isolation. Now the crew who participated in a mock trip to the Red Planet may have helped overturn a long-standing assumption of how our body deals with dietary salt. Read more
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. Read more
ESA's Mars500 crewmembers Diego Urbina and Romain Charles recorded 15 video diaries from all phases of their simulated mission to Mars, plus hundreds of photos and other video clips.
The 520 days of isolation for the Mars500 crew will end on 4 November, when the hatch of their 'spacecraft' is opened for the first time since June last year. Scientists eagerly await the final samples as the crew count the hours to liberty. During the 17-month simulated Mars mission, the six men have run seemingly countless experiments. They have monitored their brains, scanned their bodies, given all sorts of samples and maintained their habitat. Read more
As the Mars500 crew prepare for the end of their simulated mission to the Red Planet, they have found time to record greetings for media use. Details of the media conference on 8 November are also now available. Mars500, the first realistic full-duration simulation of a human mission to Mars, will end on 4 November, when the international crew of six 'arrive back on Earth' from their 520-day 'interplanetary voyage'. Read more
Since June last year, the six crewmembers of a simulated mission to Mars have been isolated in a special facility near Moscow. They will 'arrive back on Earth' on 4 November and go into quarantine for four days for medical checks. Media are invited to meet the crew at a press conference on 8 November in Moscow. Read more
The 'mission' to Mars is now generating unique data - nobody has been isolated as long as these six marsonauts. Soon, the communications delay will end and the crew will feel that much closer to opening the hatch on 4 November. Read more
The six men in the Mars500 facility near Moscow have been in isolation now 365 days. The European crewmembers have been writing in their latest letters home about the highlights, monotonous life, team spirit and determination to go on.