Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Space: The Santa Monica Shot
Cut off from all but radio contact with other human beings, confined to a 40-ft.-long chamber and breathing the same limited supply of oxygen over and over, four California college students might as well be in far-off space. And that is the idea. Ever since they were sealed up in a white steel cylinder in an outbuilding behind the McDonnell Douglas Corp.'s Santa Monica plant on Feb. 19, the students have been testing a life-support system designed for future orbital missions t hat could last for 60 days or longer.
To minimize the amount of oxygen...
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