<p>The six-man multi-national crew has been sealed since June inside a mocked-up spaceship without sun or fresh water.<br /><br />"The simulated touchdown was successfully completed at noon Moscow time [15:00 GMT]," said a spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems that runs the project with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA).<br /><br />On Feb 14, three of the group - Alexander Smoliyevsky, Diego Urbina and Wang Yue - will descend onto the planet, don spacesuits and walk on its "surface", which in reality will be the sandy floor inside a large hangar in Moscow.<br /><br />After 30 days working on the Red Planet, the crew will then embark on a 240-day return trip to Earth.</p>
<p>The six-man multi-national crew has been sealed since June inside a mocked-up spaceship without sun or fresh water.<br /><br />"The simulated touchdown was successfully completed at noon Moscow time [15:00 GMT]," said a spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems that runs the project with the participation of the European Space Agency (ESA).<br /><br />On Feb 14, three of the group - Alexander Smoliyevsky, Diego Urbina and Wang Yue - will descend onto the planet, don spacesuits and walk on its "surface", which in reality will be the sandy floor inside a large hangar in Moscow.<br /><br />After 30 days working on the Red Planet, the crew will then embark on a 240-day return trip to Earth.</p>