There’s an interesting article from the Philadelphia Inquirer looking at the early-90’s Biosphere experiment. I remember being fascinated by this at the time it was going on, but thought I remembered that it eventually fell apart. Apparently I was wrong — the experiment did last the full two years planned, though not without problems…
Living inside the glass enclosure known as Biosphere 2 for two years wasn’t easy. If its eight pioneering residents wanted pizza, they had to grow their own wheat and milk a goat for cheese. They contended with thinning air, insufficient food, constant work and, worst of all, each other.
Things like this might be more and more important as we look more seriously at exploring the universe outside of our little planet. It’s neat to see people looking back on this again, and nice to be able to get a little more information on how things actually went during those two years.