MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Six women aged from 22 to 34 embarked on a simulated flight to the Moon on Wednesday in a ground-based experiment conceived and monitored by Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems.
- Gender not important when selecting crew for flight to Moon and Mars — scientist
- Russia, China to unify space technologies for manned flights to the Moon — source
- India refuses to participate in Russian Moon research project
- Russia hopes its new unmanned spacecraft to fly around Moon in mid-2020s
- Russian Space Agency plans to develop Angara rocket for Moon flights
Their eight-day unpaid Moon 2015 mission confronts them with 30 experiments aboard a mock-up environment of six cabins, kitchen, bathroom and gym akin to life on the International Space Station ISS.
It's the latest in a lengthy series of tests carried out by institute specialists studying the effects on human physiology and emotions during life among the stars. The first mission, launched in 1967, replicated 12 months on a spacecraft.
Life-support systems will sustain the crew as a list of journey tasks mounts a search for a missing moon rover and charts the progress of life-science experiments.
Showers and make-up have been left behind outside the sealed capsule, explained uniformed crew members Tatiana Shiguyeva and Darya Komissarova before departure, noting an unfamiliar hygiene regime ahead for them but which is now commonplace for flyers aboard the ISS orbiter.
So, too, is male company left behind, they add, assessing busy workdays ahead and leisure hours constrained for the time being to reading, games to play and films to watch.
