The astrophysicist and honorary professor at the EPFL mentors the Asclepios project. The students spent months undergoing intensive preparation, he says. “They have to be disciplined and work hard.” There is cooperation with the scientific and business communities. Asclepios is more than capable of providing valuable insights for real space travel. Many of these students aim to become astronauts. Having participated in a misStudents at the Asclepios control centre simulating a mission to the moon. Still from the documentary “To The Moon and Back” by Elisa Gomez Alvarez, Rita Productions/RTS face of the Moon”. They changed into special suits and left the bunker located near the Gotthard Pass. The pictures of these simulated lunar walks look funny and unreal. Figures clad in orange with big humps on their backs stomping around among the rocks and cliff edges as they operate their devices. They look like characters from a children’s television programme. Are the simulated Moon missions really the way they appear from the pictures, i.e. just a game? A bit of fun during the holidays for young people who enjoy indulging in fantasy and who dream of flying to Mars? Insights for the real thing: space travel “Definitely not”, says Claude Nicollier, one of Switzerland’s most famous space travel experts. He is the only Swiss astronaut to date to have gone into space (see interview on page 20). An Asclepios astronaut with a robot negotiating the ‘lunar’ landscape of the Gotthard massif. Photo: Asclepios IV Mission 19
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