
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 27, 1993                   TAG: 9309270034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ORACLE, ARIZ.                                LENGTH: Medium

OUT OF THE ISOLATION CHAMBERS

Gaunt but triumphant, four men and four women emerged Sunday from the glass dome of Biosphere 2 where they'd been sealed for two years in a controversial project in self-sufficiency.

The crew, wearing dark blue astronaut-style jumpsuits, stepped through the airlock from their 3.15-acre mini-world to fill their lungs with fresh air and waved to a crowd of at least 2,500 reporters and well-wishers.

"What an extraordinary moment," said crew member Mark Nelson, 46. "What an extraordinary world. They said it couldn't be done. But here we are - healthy, happy."

The event, dubbed "re-entry" by Biosphere operators, blended NASA-style techno-speak with the trappings of a Hollywood media event.

Festivities began with an early-morning concert featuring an orchestra and black tie and was to include video highlights of the crew's "mission," book-signings, ecology talks and solar cooking demonstrations.

The crew included a physician, Dr. Roy Walford, and ranged in age from 29 to 69 at opening. All are single and agreed to just one restriction on their social life - no pregnancies. They have refused to discuss possible romances or arguments that might have taken place since they were sealed in the structure 35 miles north of Tucson on Sept. 26, 1991.

Crew members lost an average of 13.75 percent of their body weight on a diet heavy on such items as sweet potatoes, rice, peanuts, bananas and wheat. They occasionally had an egg, chicken or goat meat and coffee.

Operators of the $150 million private, for-profit project say it achieved its main goal: keeping eight people alive in a self-contained environment for two years. But there have been setbacks.

Fresh air was pumped in once to counteract leaks. Pure oxygen was pumped in twice in an attempt to balance the atmosphere that was supposed to be maintained by the natural interaction of plants and animals. And the crew managed to grow only 80 percent of its food, depending for the rest on dome-grown crops stocked in advance and on kidney beans and other items intended for seed.

by CNB