From March 31 to July 14, a six-man international crew called an isolation chamber in Moscow their home. The crew, composed of four Russians and two Europeans, simulated a 105-day Mars mission full of experiments and realistic mission scenarios, including emergency situations and 20-minute communications delays.

From ESA: On 14 July, a crew of six will leave their Mars mission simulator and see the Sun once again. The crew, which includes a French pilot and a German engineer selected by ESA, will have completed 105 days of confinement and numerous scientific experiment runs inside the isolation facility at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow. Their simulated mission will help understand the psychological and medical aspects of long-duration spaceflight.

From ESA: Winter in Antarctica is harsh. Temperatures occasionally going as low as -84oC, permanent darkness and isolation are only some of the conditions that crews at the Antarctic station Concordia have to brave. These challenging circumstances could help prepare for future human space exploration missions.

According to L. Paul Verhage at the The Citizen Scientist: "The goal behind the BalloonSat is to give an individual (or a small group, if the students are very young) the opportunity to create an experiment for near space and then to have it sent there. The student shouldn't be concerned with launching, tracking, or recovery. He or she should just focus on developing a great experiment that is suitable for the flight into near space. What if the student wants to develop a fairly complex set of experiments or several students want to collaborate on the construction of a single= airframe for an array of experiments? " [More at The Citizen Scientist]

Orbit 136 took LRO over the Imbrian-aged Compton Crater (162 km diameter) at an altitude of 172 kilometers. At this height, large boulders can be seen casting shadows, especially on the rims of the numerous secondary impacts that cover this ancient surface. But there is more to this image than craters and boulders.

"NASA Astronaut and mountaineer Scott Parazynski will also share his recent experience on Mount Everest, becoming the first person to have explored space and stand atop of the world's highest mountain. He used SPOT technology to send signals updating his locations on Everest, staying connected to his team at Base Camp and his family back at home."

Full Reelase below: