ESA astronaut Tim Peake received something of a shock earlier this week aboard the International Space Station when he discovered that hiding within a carry bag was a giant gorilla.
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This is the first time that extensive research using exciting new techniques like genetic studies has been conducted on very long-duration crew members.
During the past year, NASA has been studying Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and Scott’s twin brother.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – After almost a year in space, America’s space champ, Scott Kelly, is just a few days away from returning to Earth – and he can’t wait.
“For him, living in space and being so far detached from life on Earth, one of the only real lifelines you have, one of the best ones, is certainly the ability to make a phone call”, Mark Kelly said from his home in Tucson, Arizona. “After that, I think I might jump in my pool or take a shower”. The longer a human is in space, the more that individual is exposed to risks such as radiation and weightlessness.
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.
But Scott Kelly isn’t the only one getting his custom cuisine on in space. Seemingly humor aboard the ISS involves dressing up in a gorilla suit and chasing other astronauts Hell, that’s probably fairly amusing on Earth, too.
While astronauts can control R2 directly, making the robot more autonomous will make work on the station and on future deep space exploration missions more efficient. They were all aboard the Russian Mir Space Station.
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Next Tuesday, Kelly, Kornienko and Sergey Volkov – who will himself have clocked up 182 days in space – will board the Soyuz TMA-18M capsule for the return leg of their epic space journey.
