Interesting - News from Russia’s Mars Program

- Russia continues flight simulation experiments for Mars

From the article:

Two Europeans and four Russians have been selected for the main flight simulation, which may last from 520 to 700 days.

During nearly two years of isolation, crew members will experience many of the conditions likely to be encountered by astronauts on a real space flight.

- Russia tests monkeys for Mars trip

From the article:

The macaques will be the first to experience the radiation that poses a big risk to astronauts - or Russian cosmonauts - on any flight to the Red Planet.

- Russia To Create Manned Assembly Complex In Orbit

From the article:

Russia is going to create a manned assembly complex in orbit, the chief of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) Anatoly Perminov said here on Saturday. “We shall create this complex in order to make dockings in orbit, build craft there and send them to the Moon, Mars and other planets.”

- Russia inches towards mission to Mars

From the article:

Air is crucial to human life, and the absence of a breathable atmosphere is one of the main obstacles to discovering other planets. Russian scientists have reproduced a gas mixture that human beings may breathe on the way to Mars and when on the Red Planet.