The Wanderers by Meg Howrey

Helen, Yoshi and Sergei have been trained and working their whole lives for this trip - to be the first group of humans to go to Mars. Prime, the company that is handling the mission, agrees that they are the exact perfect team to go but first they must face one last test - to exist in a simulation that will last the year and a half it will take to complete the mission. This simulation is actually in the desert but these three astronauts must rely on themselves and their wits to get by in what could be certain death or the most incredible experience any human has undertaken. We see them work through problems dealing with sleep deprivation, boredom and missing their loved ones. Each chapter alternates between the three astronauts and their family members and gives us an understanding not of what it is like to be in space but what astronauts and their family must deal with before the mission even starts. Each crew member has things they must personally overcome and it is funny to hear them spouting Prime propaganda before too long. It is a character study of what makes a great astronaut and team member, the finding out if you have the right stuff to make it in space.