Volunteers needed for round trip Mars simulation, in Russia!

Strange, but apparently true.

From cnet news:

The European Space Agency wants you to join the astro-nut corps. At the Paris Air Show, the agency announced that it is now taking applications for people who want to simulate a trip from Earth to Mars and back, locked up in a test facility in Russia for about 520 days.
The final six people selected for the mission will not see the rest of the world for almost two years, and will have to wait as long as 40 minutes for each radio contact with "Earth" stations. The mission will take place at a special facility in Moscow in conjunction with the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems and the ESA.

Apply at the ESA. Deadline is September 30, 2007.

Who knows, this could be the next hot reality TV series, like Survivor or Big Brother.