NASA Commander Scott Kelly has kept the world updated on his experience aboard the International Space Station, an endeavor he embarked upon roughly one year ago, by posting images to social media using the hashtag #yearinspace.
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Handily for NASA, it has been able to compare Scott Kelly’s physical state with that of his twin brother Mark Kelly – another astronaut who remained on Earth as a control.
Since arriving at the space station on March, 27, 2015, Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korneinko have served with eight different crewmates, unpacked six cargo ships, weathered two botched supply runs and participated in dozens of science experiments. “It would just depend on what I was doing and if it would make a difference, although I look forward to getting home next week”.
Kelly’s mission was to help scientists examine the effects of long-term space travel.
When March 1 rolls around and Scott Kelly comes back to Earth, he’ll hold the American record for the longest stint in space. As soon as he returns to Houston, Kelly said NASA will put him through a battery of tests to measure any changes in his health.
“It is a harsh environment”. The study results will help better inform NASA about future plans for sending astronauts on deep space missions, such as to Mars. Three space walks. “If I had to pick one thing, I would say going outside for first, second and third time would be for me the most memorable”, he said.
Before leaving to the space station, Kornienko said he asked Vladimir Titov, a retired cosmonaut who spent a year in space in 1988, about what to expect after the mission.
Some of the memorable sights from space included auroras and Hurricane Patricia in October, Kelly said.
What has Scott Kelly learned from his time in space?
On Tuesday, he is to turn over command of the International Space Station to his fellow NASA astronaut Timothy L. Kopra and climb into a Russian Soyuz capsule. NASA partnered with other space agencies to conduct numerous human research investigations to see how the human body changes during a year in space. From a hygiene perspective, he feels as if he has been camping in the woods for a year.
The contest is supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI).
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“I could go another 100 days; I could go another year if I had to”, he added. Some of the same tests will be done on his twin brother, Mark Kelly, to determine whether long-duration spaceflight has changed Kelly’s genetics in a significant way.
