Mars500 crew prepared for “return to Earth” from simulated interplanetary travel.
A team of six Mars explorers are ready to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and land back on terra firma.
The crew will “arrive back on Earth” on November 4 and go into quarantine for four days for medical checks.
The Mars500 is the first full-duration simulation of a human mission to the red planet, living and working in mock-up surroundings that mimic almost all aspects of a real trek to Mars.
Missing on their voyage, however, were microgravity, radiation and the actual mileage chalked up during an Earth to Mars, Mars to Earth interplanetary trek.
Still, the expeditionary crew has endured monotony, delayed communications and complete lack of daylight in their windowless habitat in Moscow.
Welcome home ceremonies
During the nearly 1.5-year duration of the mission, the international crew – made up of two Europeans, three Russians and one Chinese – have “flown” to Mars, “landed” on their destination planet and made several spacewalks on a look-a-like martian terrain.
The crew consists of European Space Agency (ESA)-selected Diego Urbina (Italian/Colombian) and Romain Charles (French); Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexei Sitev and Alexandr Smoleevski from Russia; and Wang Yue from China.
It has been a grand, simulated experience according to project officials.
ESA has been working with Roscosmos and Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in the Moscow-based Mars 500 project.
An ESA TV transmission will show the Mars500 hatch opening and the first statements from the expedition on November 4 at 09:50 – 11:00 GMT and replay the event at 11 00:00 – 00:00 GMT
To follow the open the hatch transmission on the web, please go to:
Highlights will be posted within 1 hour on the ESA TV ftp server and at Eurovision WorldLink.
By Leonard David