The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicAfter more than eight months of flying to the Red Planet, the isolated Mars500 crew are approaching their goal and some of them finally put their steps onto a mock-Mars surface on 14 February.
Mars500 is the most realistic spaceflight simulation possible without leaving the ground: its six volunteers are locked inside a sealed nest of modules at Moscow's Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) for a total of 520 days, the time it would take to fly to Mars and back.
This story gives the status on the experiment and before the simulated landing on Mars.