MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A crew of astronauts successfully simulated a landing on Mars inside a large hangar in Moscow, officials said.
The six-person, multinational crew made the simulated Mars landing Saturday after being sealed in a spaceship mockup since June, RIA Novosti reported.
"The stimulated touchdown was successfully completed at noon Moscow time," said a spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, which runs the project with the European Space Agency.
Three astronauts on the Mars500 simulated mission will make a simulated walk on the Mars "surface" Monday. After working 30 days on the simulated planet, the crew will then embark on a simulated 240-day return trip to Earth.
Officials said the 520-day Mars500 mission is designed to test how humans cope with the physical and mental stresses of a long space flight.
