The flight tested the worldwide communications system that linked the spacecraft to flight controllers at Cape Canaveral.

VOA: special.2009.06.17

Initially, this might simply involve introducing a delay in communications to controllers in Moscow and Houston, US. Ultimately, it could also involve removing crew members into separate modules to give them a taste of what the Mars500 participants have gone through.

BBC: Simulated Mars mission 'lands' back on Earth

Air traffic controllers say the illegal radio broadcasts often block out vital communications with pilots.

BBC: Ofcom said there were 70 such cases in 2006

" The plane was handed off to controllers in Minneapolis as a NORDO, the designation for "no radio communications.

CNN: Airliner crew flies 150 miles past airport