Mars men greeted with applause

Six men locked away in steel tubes for a year-and-a-half to simulate a mission to Mars have emerged from isolation.

The Mars500 project, undertaken at a Moscow institute, was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a long-duration spaceflight.

One of the team, Italian crew member Diego Urbina, said it was "great" to see everyone again and described his participation as an honour.