Six guys live in a tiny capsule for 520 days, don’t kill each other

Two days before these guys emerged from their capsule, I learned of them for the first time in a Wired mag article.

The Mars500 mission saw six volunteer astronauts go into isolation on a simulated space mission (at first I accidentally typed that as “stimulated” space mission, which would maybe be a little different…). They spent 520 days in a capsule the size of a bus, just outside of Moscow, completely cut off from the outside world, as part of an experiment to see how people will really deal with the long trip to Mars, when we eventually go.

The crew ate nothing but canned food, showered once a week and was subjected to rigorous testing. There was a LOT of peeing into containers. They didn’t kill each other, apparently, though it seems quite possible that psychological effects will become apparent in the coming months. See them emerge from the capsule on Saturday, November 5, and read more about the mission here.

Below is their video diary at the one year mark.