At 14:00 Moscow Time on 4 November 2011, Moscow Institute of Biomedical Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences held a grand ceremony for "Mars 500" experiment. Crew member Wang Yue from China Astronaut Training Center and other five members from Russia and Europe have ended their 520-day simulated mission, and they stepped out of their ‘spacecraft’, which marked the full success of “Mars-500” Manned Simulated Experiment. Representatives from the following made their presence on the ceremony: Russian Federal Space Agency, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Institute of Biomedical Problems, European Space Agency, German Space Agency, Russian Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, China Astronaut Research and Training Center and China Great Wall Industry Corporation.
"Mars 500" experiment is a large-scale international experiment project co-conducted by Russia and other nations. The main purpose is to study mankind’s tolerance against all changes on the journey to Mars, to explore the interactions of "human being and environment" and to understand crew’s health status and working ability under the long-term closed environment.
"Mars 500" experiment is mankind’s first exploration of simulated journey to Mars, which is acclaimed as “a great leap forward for Mars exploration as well as for mankind’s exploration of itself” by the scientific community.