520-day mock Mars mission ends

PALE but smiling, a crew of researchers yesterday walked out of a set of windowless modules after a 520-day simulation of a flight to Mars.

The all-male crew of three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian-Colombian and a Chinese man slowly emerged from the Moscow facility, which simulated the conditions of interplanetary travel — minus the weightlessness. Dressed in blue track suits emblazoned with the mission emblem, they walked down a metal ladder to a greeting crowd of officials and journalists.

“The crew has completed the experiment,” team leader Alexey Sitev reported to Russian space officials. “The mission is accomplished, the crew is in good health and is ready for new missions.”