520 Days Locked In A Space Capsule?

How would you like to spend 520 days in a locked steel capsule? Six researchers on a mock flight to Mars have done it (well 233 days of it)... are all feeling strong and ready to "land" on the Red Planet.

The all-male crew consists of three Russians, a Chinese, a Frenchman and an Italian have been inside windowless capsules at a Moscow research center since June. The simulation is designed to help real space crews cope with the confinement and stress of interplanetary travel.

The researchers communicate with the outside world via e-mails and video messages. The crew members eat canned food  and shower only once a week.

The six men are due to "land" on Mars on Feb. 12 and spend two days researching the planet. They then begin the months-long return flight to Earth, expected to be the most challenging part of the mission.

The Mars-500 experiment is being conducted by the Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems, the European Space Agency and China's space training center.