For 520 days, the crew of mock astronauts in the Mars500 simulation lived in cramped conditions and close proximity to simulate the psychological effects of the incredibly long trip to Mars — and they've just returned, opening the hatch and stepping into the air for the first time in seventeen months. The good news? 500 days in isolation with just five other people for company didn't give any of them space madness.

The program went so far as to simulate the communication delay with Earth, which could stretch up to 25 minutes, and even held a fake Mars walk. The behavior of the six man crew was rigorously recorded, down to how much waste they were creating from their space food. Unfortunately, some of the trickier aspects of space travel were ignored (such as low gravity, incredibly cramped living quarters, and that it's only the timespan of half the voyage) but hey — it is great publicity! For a look at life on board, here's a compilation of all the video diaries on the trip, compressed down to 15 minutes.