Technically they never moved, in fact they only opened the doors of this bunker after 1 year and a half: nothing but Big Brother.

Last February the simulator recorded the 'landing on Mars' with related space walks: the mission was aimed at testing the effects of the stress and isolation that a long space journey can cause in the astronauts' brains.

Good news: Patrick Sunblad, the ESA specialist who oversaw the mission, says "The team has withstood the isolation of a mission such as a trip to Mars positively. Psychologically, we are ready to go to the red planet."

The 'space pioneers' received emails from friends and families 'from the Earth', communications that naturally came with the same delay that the real ones will have (given the distance between the two planets): the possibility of keeping in touch with their loved ones is was crucial to the morale of the astronauts. Paradoxically, to withstand such a mission, men will have to go back to the past, adjusting their psyche to the times when communications were very slow. Will they go back to the days when you wrote to a family member and received an answer after a month, by letter? Certainly not, but they will have to get used to not having the instantaneity of a text message or a tweet.

Now the team of talented explorers is awaited for 4 days of medical tests, which will also have to evaluate the physical effects of the long stay on 'Mars'.

Welcome home, guys!