Launch of Mars500 mission on 3 June in Moscow
 
The first full-duration simulation of a human mission to Mars is about to begin.

After closing the hatch, the crew of six will remain in their ‘spacecraft’ for 520 days.

The 520-day simulated mission to Mars will start on 3 June, when the isolation facility is sealed and the international crew start their record-breaking experiment.

The crew will basically live and work like astronauts on the International Space Station, with maintenance work, scientific experiments and daily exercise. They will follow a seven-day week, with two days off, except when special and emergency situations are simulated.

There are six crewmembers plus a Russian backup: ESA-selected Diego Urbina (Italian/Colombian, age 27) and Romain Charles (French, 31); Sukhrob Kamolov (32), Alexey Sitev (38), Alexandr Smoleevskiy (33) and Mikhail Sinelnikov (37) from Russia; and Wang Yue (26) from China.

Housed in Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, the 550 m³ sealed space mockup includes an interplanetary spaceship, a Mars lander and a martian landscape.