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MOSCOW (AP) - It's a mission to Mars — without leaving Moscow. Russian scientists have finished fashioning a crucial section of a mock spacecraft that will simulate a voyage to the Red Planet, an official at the Moscow institute leading the project said Wednesday.
For at least 520 days, the barrel-shaped metal structure will serve as living quarters for six crew members picked from thousands of applicants around the world for a pretend voyage that in real life may be decades away.
The simulated space flight, to start in late 2008, is meant to set the stage for a trip to Mars by testing the health, performance and crew interaction under the trying conditions of such a journey.
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