Mars-500 isolation experiment ends

In Moscow, six volunteers have emerged from 520 days of isolation, following an experiment designed to test human endurance, ahead of a manned mission to Mars. After a year and a half, the hatch door was finally opened. Pale-faced but smiling, the crew of the isolation study emerged bleary-eyed on Friday. They were greeted by flashbulbs and applause from the waiting international media, and Russian officials. The 6 crew members were confined to a 550-cubic-meter mock spacecraft throughout their whole stay. Speaking after the ordeal, they said the mission had been hard -- but was worth it. Wang Yue, Chinese Mars-500 Crew Member, said, " Hello everyone, nice to meet you again, after 520 days we are finally back." Diego Urbina, Italian Mars-500 Crew Member, said, "On the Mars500 mission we have achieved on earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, reachable planet." Sukhumb Kamolov, Russian Mars-500 Crew Member, said, "We have completed one of the first research steps, by finishing this 520 day mission. Now it’s up to you -- the constructors, engineers, builders to take this into the future -- and we will await the results." Space experts believe human technology is still decades away from being able to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation, land them 35 million miles across the solar system and bring them home again. The 15 million US dollar experiment was aimed at finding out whether humans can remain healthy -- both physically and mentally -- during more than six months rocketing to the Red Planet. Technology aside, that question at least would appear to have been answered.