But as the six fearless volunteers this afternoon sealed themselves inside a simulated mission to Mars, grinning and waving goodbye to their families before "blast-off", scientists insisted they were embarking on an unprecedented experiment that was no laughing matter.
The crewmen – three are Russian, one French, one Chinese and one a Colombian-born Italian – won't emerge from their isolation until November 2011.
Their goal is to recreate a return journey to the red planet, spanning a year and a half, complete with simulated emergency situations and realistic psychological pressures.
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All the crew members are male, which the organizers hope will prevent such occurences as a 1999 brawl between two men over an attempted kiss of a female astronaut during a similar experiment. Could you endure the psychological pressure of spending 520 days in that kind of isolation?
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