[mdaniel]

I suspect that even the ISS would still pose some significant logistical hurdles for such a long experiment involving so many people. I don't know anything about the physical setup of the on-Earth "shuttle", but I would hope it is larger than the crew quarters onboard the ISS (for sanity's sake).

The trade-off, I guess, is that the simulation becomes more real when one incorporates the very real dangers of space.