The first European simulation of a long-duration manned space mission

Europe's space flight ambitions will involve long-duration manned space missions in the next century. This objective has given rise to several studies being undertaken in "space-analogous" environments during the last few years. The first wholly space-oriented manned simulation study undertaken in Europe took place during 1990. It involved a crew of six isolated for 4 weeks in a hyperbaric chamber complex. The resources available for the study were primarily devoted to obtaining scientific data on the psychological and physiological effects of long-duration isolation and confinement on crew performance. Fundamental lessons were also learned on the operational side, and these will be fully exploited in setting up future simulation campaigns.