Newlywed astronaut puts honeymoon on hold as he begins 18-month simulated Mars mission



Newlywed: Alexei Sitev will leave his wife Ekaterina Golubeva for 18 months to board a mock spacecraft to Mars

Russian astronaut Alexei Sitev should be at least planning his honeymoon after tying the knot with the love of his life four weeks ago.



But instead Sitev and his bride Ekaterina Golubeva will be spending their first 18 months of married life apart.

The 38-year-old will be locked in a steel capsule, measuring just 1,000 square feet, with five other men, who were chosen from thousands of applicants, to participate in a simulated mission to Mars.

The European Space Agency experiment, called Mars500, is designed to test how humans would cope during a 520-day mission to the Red Planet, with a 250-day outward trip, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.

Next week Sitev will be sealed into four windowless metal compartments, which will not be opened until the end of the simulated mission.



It means that all food and water supplies and other pieces of equipment will need to loaded before the door is bolted.

During nearly two years of isolation, the crew members - three Russians, a Chinese, a Frenchman and an Italian - will experience many of the conditions likely to be encountered by astronauts on a real space flight, except for radiation and weightlessness.

Sitev said it would be difficult to be separated from Ekaterina for such a long period of time.

He admitted that not being able to communicate with his wife and 'giving up sex' would be 'very tough'.

But Sitev said the most stressful aspect of the job would be 'coping with the monotony of each day'.

Tight squeeze: The six crew members will be cooped up in this mock spacecraft, which is housed in Moscow

Ekaterina, a 35-year-old doctor, said she was surprised when her husband told her that he had volunteered to participate in the Mars project.

'Being without him for such a long time will be very hard,' she told the Sunday Times. 'But for me it’s very important that he fulfills his ambitions.'

Sitev decided to marry Ekaterina before entering the capsule as a sign of his commitment.

After about 250 days on the 'spaceship', half the crew will enter a 'landing craft' and 'descend' to the planet where they will walk about wearing modified Russian Orlan spacesuits.



Once sealed into the chamber the cosmonauts will only have personal contact with each other.

Surface of the Red Planet: The European Space Agency hope the simulator experiment will test how humans would cope during a 520-day mission to Mars

A 20-minute delay will be built into communications with the control centre to simulate an interplanetary mission and the crew will be given an identical diet to that used for the International Space Station.



As with a human spaceflight mission, the chosen candidates will be free to take certain personal items, as well as being supplied with books, movies, personal laptops and can occupy themselves with physical exercise or self studies.

Out of this world: An image of Mars taken by Nasa's Hubble telescope

Scientific investigations during the experiment will assess the effect that isolation has on various psychological and physiological aspects such as stress, hormone levels, sleep quality, mood and the benefits of dietary supplements.

The organisers say that if a crew-member decides halfway through the simulation that he really cannot cope with the separation anymore and wants to leave, he will be allowed to do so; although every effort will be made to try to persuade the individual to stay.

The Mars500 project, which is located in Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, conducted a simulation last year for 105 days.

The ESA said astronauts taking parts in the experiments would go down in history as pioneers.

'This mission might lack some of the glory and feeling of the real spaceflight, but it will be just as tough. The first humans to walk on Mars will surely remember these pioneers.'