2010 - the space oddity continues

It's nice to be proved right.

In a warehouse outside Moscow, largely forgotten by the outside world, six would-be cosmonauts are sitting in a tin can.

The simulated Mars mission yesterday entered its fourth month, having passed the previous study's 105 days two weeks earlier. Our intrepid heroes are now in uncharted territory, cut off from mission control by the increasing communications time-lag and thrown entirely on their own resources.

When the experiment began, the Tavern regulars speculated about the entertainment that the crew would choose to help while away the 502 days of their mission, concluding that the classic sci-fi films might well be top of the list.

And, sure enough, last week a recent response to a question from a member of the public - anyone can play; there's an e-mail address - confirmed this is the case. French crew member Romain Charles explained;

'We have brought with us a lot of Sci-fi books and movies. Each time that we watch one of them, we always comment it. We are much more sensible to each detail of the film or of the book.

For example, we saw “2001: A Space Odyssee” a couple of weeks ago and I could really feel the loneliness and the monotony that the 2 main characters had to endure. I didn’t experience these feelings the first time that I saw this movie.'
 
I can't wait to hear what he has to say about 'Alien'.
 
There's more - much more - at ESA's Mars 500 website.