The international experiment on simulating the flight to the Moon SIRIUS-21 is scheduled to begin on November 4 this year. This was reported to RIA Novosti on September 9 at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"We plan to launch SIRIUS-21 on National Unity Day, November 4," the press service of the IMBP said.
According to the institute, during the experiment, six volunteer testers will have to live together in a spacecraft simulator-a ground test complex-for 240 days. 12 candidates from Russia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates were selected as candidates.
The international project SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station, "Scientific international research in a unique ground complex") is carried out jointly with the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the NASA Human Research Program. The project involves conducting a series of isolation experiments lasting four, eight and 12 months over a period of five years.
The previous SIRIUS-21 isolation experiment started in Moscow on June 3. During it, the crew, consisting of six different-sex volunteers, had to stay in complete isolation from the world for eight months.
On July 19, 2019, the first stage of the SIRIUS international experiment was completed in Moscow, within the framework of which the crew spent four months in isolation, simulating a flight to the moon. The experiment was carried out in the Ground-based Experimental Complex (NEK) on the basis of the IMBP RAS.
The crew included commander Evgeny Tarelkin, flight engineer Daria Zhidova, researchers Anastasia Stepanova, Allen Mirkadyrov (USA) and Reinhold Povilaitis (USA), doctor Stefania Fedyai.