I think the fact that they could leave at any moment was an advantage - the sense that you're in control is very powerful for motivation. When going into space for real, you don't know if you're coming back or not, and if God forbid an accident happens, nobody knows how people would react stuck for months inside a small capsule.
But, as others have commented on various sites, of course people can live and work in these conditions. It is no different than a submarine, and during WW2 soldiers were on deployment for months at end.
Of course, they surfaced quite often and had some sun/air/ocean view, but it's not that far from being inside a capsule in space.
Now if we could launch a submarine into space somehow, our problems would be solved :-)...
Not only that, I reckon I would tend to fantasize about leaving every time I got upset, whereas without that choice I might give up such feelings faster.
Those submarines would have 50-150 men on them. This petri dish had 6. There are major psychological differences - in the former, you might not even know everybody; in the latter, you'll know them too well after about a month.
Exactly, we (humans) have loads of experience of people living in self-contained environments for long periods, these kinds of experiments are good for headlines, not for getting to Mars.
Nuclear subs stay down for months at a time, no problem.
But, as others have commented on various sites, of course people can live and work in these conditions. It is no different than a submarine, and during WW2 soldiers were on deployment for months at end.
Of course, they surfaced quite often and had some sun/air/ocean view, but it's not that far from being inside a capsule in space.
Now if we could launch a submarine into space somehow, our problems would be solved :-)...