An expedition (Mars500) of almost one and half year with six men locked in the steel tubes flying in the distant space and no contact to the outer world, have returned safely to the earth.
Mars500 was an experimental mission with the cost of $15 million to investigate what human mind and body can go through in a long distant space voyage. The project was undertaken in Moscow institute.
All of the crew cheered and waved hands to their families, and later they were taken to quarantine for medical checkup.
The crew involved Russians Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Sukhrob Kamolov, European Romain Charles, Chinese national Wang Yue, and an Italian-Columbian Diego Urbi.
“It’s really great to see you all again – rather overwhelming,” said European Space Agency (ESA) participant Diego Urbina after stepping through the opened hatch of the Mars500 “spaceship”.
“On the Mars500 mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, but reachable, planet.”
“The international crew has completed the 520-day mission,” Commander Alexey Sitev reported to gathered officials.
During Mars500 project the crew performed pretended landing on the Mars, used to be fed on rations, didn’t take regular showers, hence all the activities were staged (as a part of experiment) like a real spaceflight.
“They are tired, of course they need social rehabilitation to adapt back to society,” project director Boris Morukov told Reuters.
“Over a period of 17 months, everything was strictly regimented. Now they are returning to a life where they must deal with family and professional problems.”
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