A year in isolation: 366-day mock moon mission wraps up in Russia

SIRIUS-23 is a year-long biomedical isolation experiment simulating the conditions of deep-space travel and lunar surface operations.

For 366 days , a crew of six analog astronauts lived and worked in a sealed environment, a meticulously controlled Earth -based stand-in for interplanetary missions of the future.

The mission reflected humanity's growing aspirations beyond Earth orbit.

The results are expected to inform future lunar and Mars missions.

While the crew endured the challenges of confinement for the sake of science, their work embodies a larger purpose: enabling future explorers to journey farther and stay longer. Anastasia Stepanova is a space journalist, research engineer, PhD candidate in Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines and co-author of the space book "I wish you a good flight." She has participated as a mission specialist and crew journalist in numerous experiments and projects aimed at better understanding the effects of space travel on the human body, as well as simulating the conditions of a crewed expedition to the moon and Mars ..