Astronauts to Emerge from 520-Day Mars Simulation

An experiment meant to determine how well humans would deal with the isolation of a Mars mission draws to close in Russia.

For the last 518 days, six Russian "astronauts" have been holed up in a mock-up of a space craft in an experiment to test how well humans would deal with a mission to Mars. The crew will finally emerge from the isolation of the 72-square-metre spaceship on Saturday, bringing to an end one of the longest – and likely most trying – experiments ever performed for the sake of space exploration. Doctors have been monitoring the subjects' vital signs and emotional well-being to see what kind of stress such confined quarters would place on the crew. What remains to be is seen is how well the astronauts will cope with the real world once they're out - after all, given the way things are headed in Europe, maybe they'd just rather stay put.