Six Russians locked into 'spacecraft' for 17 days in moon flight simulation

The three men and three women are the first group in a programme which will see teams spend up to a year in isolation

Three men and three women were sealed in an artificial spacecraft unit in Moscow on Tuesday in a simulation of a 17-day flight to the moon, a preparation for long-term missions.

The experiment is the first of several in the Sirius (Scientific International Research In a Unique terrestrial Station) programme, which over the course of five years will gradually increase the isolation experiment to 365 days.