A 66-year-old physician, a botanist and a marine biologist were among four men and four women picked today to spend two years inside a 2\-acre sealed dome intended to be a microcosm of Earth. The eight from the United States, West Germany, England and Belgium will be the crew of the giant terrarium known as Biosphere II. The privately financed $30 million project aims for a December start. Biosphere II will resemble a space colony tethered to Earth. It will be a laboratory for solving environmental problems on Biosphere I _ the Earth _ as well as a prototype for sustaining life outside this world. The crew, all single, consists of: _ Dr. Roy Walford, 66, the oldest crew member and only physician, a research gerontologist, nutritionist and professor of pathology at the UCLA School of Medicine, and the project's medical chief and biomedical consultant. _ Linda Leigh, 38, a botanist who directed and coordinated the project's ecosystem planning for land areas, or biomes, directed the collection and acquisition of more than 2,000 plant species and spent three weeks last fall inside a completely closed test module. _ Bernd Zabel, 41, an electrical engineer from Munich, West Germany, who served as construction general manager for the project. _ Sally Silverstone, 35, a native of Walthamstow, England, who has administered the Space Biospheres Ventures' architectural division. _ Abigail K. Alling, 31, a marine biologist from Maine with degrees from Middlebury College and Yale University who has directed the Biosphere's marine ecological systems. _ Taber Kyle MacCallum, 26, of Albuquerque, N.M., in charge of the Biosphere's analytical laboratory. _ Jane Elizabeth Poynter, 28, a native of Surrey, England, who has been manager of the intensive agriculture system. _ Mark Van Thillo, of Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium, who has been in charge of construction quality control. Two others who had been finalists included Norberto Alvarez-Romo, 37, of Guadalajara, Mexico, and Silke Schneider, 31, a West German. For two years, the crew's world inside the geodesic frame of glass and steel will consist of seven ecological regions: rain forest, savannah, ocean, fresh and saltwater marshes, desert, agriculture and human habitat. The latter includes apartments and laboratory, office and recreational facilities. Sprinkled into the ecological stew will be 3,800 plant and animal species. All air, water and food will be generated independently of the Earth's atmosphere and will be recycled, as will all wastes. The only link between the dome's ecological system and Earth will be electrical power transmissions, as well as computers and telecommunications. The experiment, a stepchild of Texas financier Edward P. Bass, could become a money-producing venture, particularly as a means of showing ways of responding to environmental problems such as pollution, scientists have said.
Four men and four women were picked up to spend two years inside a two - story sealed dome intended to be a microcosm of Earth . Known as Dome II , the giant terrarium aims for a December start . It will resemble a space colony tethered to Earth ( Biosphere II ) and serve as a prototype for sustaining life outside the Earth . The crew 's world inside will consist of various ecological regions including a human city of apartments , laboratory , office , and recreational facilities . Created by Texas Financier Edwin Bass , the experiment is intended to show ways of responding to environmental problems ; e.g. , pollution .