An astronaut from Colombia and five others have gloriously emerged Friday from 520-day simulated Mars space mission, international media reported Tuesday.
Colombian Diego Urbina, who has also has Italian citizenship, and the other researchers; three from Russia, one from China, and one from France, spent nearly a year and a half in a windowless, wood-paneled, bus-sized, fake spaceship.
The simulated space mission, Mars 500, took place in Moscow, Russia and had the astronauts pretending to travel through space, doing mock walks on Mars, and conducting pseudo scientific experiments.
When not doing the serious stuff and keeping monotony at bay, the cosmonauts did exercises, read books, tried to learn foreign languages, and went on Facebook.
They were only allowed to shower once every 10 days and ate food similar to that on the International Space Station, which includes delicious powdered nutrition.
The crew members were paid $100,000 each for being cooped up together for so long and making a gallant attempt at become space-ready.