More than 700 women have volunteered to lie in bed for 60 days to simulate some of the effects of weightlessness, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Thursday.
Only 24 places are available for the experiment, which is being conducted jointly by the ESA, the French space agency CNES, Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency.
Most of the applicants are from France, where the experiment is taking place, the ESA said.
The agency added it still hopes women from other European countries will apply in order to widen the international base.
The project — Women International Space Simulation for Exploration — will unfold at a hospital in Toulouse from February 22.
The female test subjects will lie in bed, with their heads slightly tilted downwards at six degrees below the horizontal, for 60 days.
They will be regularly tested for muscle tone, cardiovascular condition, changes in their immune system, bone structure and mood, to help yield insights into the effects of long-term space missions on astronauts.
The food will be standard hospital fare, enlivened once or twice a week by experimental menus devised by ESA scientists for a future manned mission to Mars. — Sapa-AFP