“I could go another year if I had to”, Kelly said this afternoon during the mission’s final news conference from space.
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When astronaut Scott Kelly returns to Earth next week after a year of living in space, NASA will have the unique opportunity to understand what exactly happens to a human body during a prolonged stay in micro-gravity and outside of the protective shield of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“We need to figure out how people are going to live in space for really long periods of time”, Kelly said.
ISS Expedition 47 officially begins, under Kopra’s command, when the Soyuz carrying Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov undocks from the space station. What they learn will help provide scientists with key data to develop methods of overcoming the challenges for humanity as we journey to Mars and beyond.
Kelly rocketed away last March on a research-packed mission, leaving behind two daughters and his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency will remain behind on the space station to complete their half-year trip. He said one way life can improve for astronauts, including those who travel on a future mission to Mars in even smaller quarters, would be “making that private area as ideal as possible”.
When asked what he was excited about doing once he’s back on solid round, Kelly said, “The first thing is just being around the people that you miss and that are important to you and spending time with them”.
The suit was sent to Kelly by his twin brother – a retired astronaut who is now on Earth.
When he comes home, he will have spent 340 consecutive days aloft, a USA record. “If we can dream it, we can make it so”, he said. Astronauts aboard the space station have to exercise for more than two hours each day to maintain muscle mass and bone density.
Kelly also promised to keep a personal journal of his experience on the space station and said that he might share it with us. Though he’s no longer an astronaut, Mark Kelly volunteered to take part in NASA’s “Twins Study” with his brother.
Lockheed’s William Pratt said the base could be used to control robots on the moon, and prepare for exploration of deep space.
Kelly’s first days and weeks will be full of physical and psychological testing and of conditioning to help get him back to normal.
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Kelly, of course, is undergoing extensive medical study both in space and after he lands. This is to determine the viability of missions to Mars and beyond.
